When Prince Harry last visited the UK, he did so for a sombre reason, and the whistlestop visit saw him return to California the following day after staying in a hotel
After spending just 30 minutes with each other, King Charles left London for Sandringham to rest having begun his cancer treatment as an outpatient, and while Harry got some face time with his father, he is said not to have crossed paths with his elder brother Prince William during his visit. Just the next day, after staying in a hotel, Harry flew straight back home to California, where he lives with his wife Meghan and two children: Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. This time around, Harry won’t be seeing his father, because Charles has a “full programme” of duties booked in, a spokesperson for Harry confirmed. However, they noted that “The Duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.” Sources have claimed that despite this, Harry and King Charles intended to see one another if the King had been able to fit in a visit. However, there seems not to have been as much movement toward reconciliation with William, with Harry said not to have reached out to his brother ahead of his visit.
A lot has changed since Harry’s last visit to the UK, with Princess Kate‘s own cancer news sending shockwaves across the nation. Harry and Meghan are said to have reached out privately to Kate after learning the emotional announcement just before it was publicly revealed.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also made a public statement of support for Kate after the announcement, wishing “health and healing” for the Princess of Wales, and backing Kate’s emotional appeal for privacy as she continues her treatment and focuses on her recovery. While Harry and William did not meet during Harry’s last visit to the UK, some commentators have appealed for the brothers – who have long had a strained relationship – to reconcile amid the health challenges facing the royal family.
However, it is not clear yet whether or not Harry and William will reunite while he is in the UK, nor whether the Duke of Sussex will see Kate who he has previously called “more sister than in-law, the sister I’d never had and always wanted” in his memoir Spare.
Sources told The Mirror that Harry and Charles have stayed in touch since they last saw one another and that they had intended to meet up while he is in the UK if the King were able to fit a meeting in. They said: “Harry has kept in regular contact with his father on several occasions and made no secret of his desire to see him when he can. He has been especially concerned about him and hopes the King will be well and able to see him as planned.”
However, the timing apparently isn’t right for the two once-close brothers to reunite. “Their relationship remains extremely fractured. Harry has privately expressed a wish to sit down with his brother but now is not the time,” explained a source.
The brothers have come together a handful of times since Harry stepped back as a working royal and moved across the Atlantic. Notably, the pair reunited for their grandfather Prince Philip’s funeral in 2021, which came only weeks after Meghan and Harry sat down with Oprah for a bombshell interview that rocked the public perception of their relationship with the other royals and saw Harry claim that his father and brother were “trapped” within the monarchy.Harry revealed in his memoir that after the funeral he and William had a tense showdown, during which Charles begged them not to make his “final years a misery”. The duke claimed that William – who has been both his “beloved brother” and “arch nemesis” over the years – said he had no idea why Harry had decided to leave the UK.
The brothers came together again when they unveiled a statue dedicated to their mother Diana in July 2021, on what would have been her 60th birthday, and then again to celebrate the late Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee in June 2022. Only a few months later the brothers were brought back together in further grief, as they mourned the late monarch together, and even managed to share a joke together in the dark moment.
As they prepared to follow their grandmother’s coffin through the streets of London, both brothers were reminded of the moment they had done the same thing for their mother, when they were only children. Harry explained in an interview with ITV a few weeks later: “Just recently my brother and I were walking the same route, and we sort of joked to each other and said, ‘At least we know the way’.
“It was very similar. The only difference was the levels of emotion. Because our grandmother had finished life. There was more, I think, of a celebration and respect and recognition to what she had accomplished. Whereas our mother was taken away far too young.”
Harry is visiting the UK to attend a special service at St. Paul’s Cathedral to mark 10 years of the Invictus Games – a sports competition for wounded ex-servicepeople that Harry founded in 2014. The Duke is making the trip solo, with Meghan staying behind in California, before the couple head to Nigeria for what some have deemed an unofficial royal tour.
It has been reported that no senior members of the House of Windsor will be attending the anniversary service of the cause so close to Harry’s heart and that he will likely be staying once again in a hotel during his time in the UK, rather than one of the many royal residences.
Last year, Harry and Meghan were “evicted” from their UK home of Frogmore Cottage, in Windsor. Without a place to call home of their own in the UK, Harry is reported to have asked permission to stay in Windsor Castle in September 2023, only to have his request rejected – reportedly on the grounds that it was made too last minute.
After this, Harry has stayed in hotels while back in his home country, amid an ongoing dispute with the Home Office over his security whilst he is on British soil. The Sussexes had their taxpayer-funded police security pulled when they stepped back as working royals, and it is now decided by the Royal and VIP Executive Committee on a case-by-case basis whether the Duke will get police security. So far, the legal battle has not gone Harry’s way, but his legal team has indicated they intend to “challenge the decision”.
In a boost amid the health crises faced by the House of Windsor, King Charles has been given permission by his doctors to return to some “public-facing” royal duties, because they are pleased with the progress he’s made in his treatment so far. Initially, Charles was limited to conducting business of state behind closed doors, and while he won’t be back to a full programme immediately – his engagements will “remain subject to doctors’ advice”. The monarch’s return to duty will see some of the burdens eased on Prince William, who has had to balance being one of the most senior royals available to work with his familial responsibilities given his wife’s health struggles.
