A big question hangs in the air: Could Prince Harry finally meet his father, King Charles III? A chance might appear on the calendar very soon. Harry, who is 40 years old, plans to visit the United Kingdom next month. His trip is for events tied to his role as a patron of WellChild. Media outlet People recently hinted that a reunion between Harry and Charles could happen during this time.
The relationship between Harry and his 76-year-old father has been strained for a while. The Duke of Sussex and his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped away from the royal family in 2020. They then made their home in California. Harry has visited the UK only a few times since then. Their last face-to-face meeting was in February 2024. That visit happened right after Charles shared his cancer diagnosis with the world.
"I love my family," Harry shared during an interview on Good Morning America back then. He added, "I’m grateful I was able to get on a plane, go see him and spend time with him." He truly moved quickly, saying, "I got on a plane and went to see him as soon as I could."
During that same Good Morning America chat, Harry suggested he had "other" trips to the UK in mind. He mentioned he would "pass to see my family as much as I possibly can." But it seems those other visits didn’t lead to a meeting. A spokesperson for the Duke told Us in May 2024 that despite Harry’s trip to the UK for the Invictus Games’ tenth anniversary, he and his father did not connect.
The distance between Harry and Charles only seemed to grow. Things reached a peak earlier this year. In April, Harry lost his appeal to get government-funded security in the UK. He and Meghan no longer had that protection in their home country after they left the royal family.
In a candid interview with the BBC after his appeal was denied, Harry suggested his father had some power in that decision. "In my father’s hands there is a lot of control and capacity," he stated in the May interview. He felt the situation could be fixed through his father. Harry explained, "Not necessarily intervening, but stepping aside and allowing experts to do what is necessary."
Harry also claimed in that same interview that Charles "doesn’t want to talk to me." He even made a public request for his father to reconcile. "I would love to reconcile with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight," he declared. "Life is precious. I don’t know how much time my father has left."
Just a month later, news spread that Harry’s and Charles’s teams secretly met in the UK. Several news outlets reported at the time that they discussed how they might find a solution in the future. Reports from Us Weekly indicated that Meredith Maines, who leads communications for the Duke and Duchess, was in London. She was there for regular meetings with the UK communications team, media members, other key people, and those involved with the Duke’s patronages.