Prince Harry and King Charles have reunited for the first time in months for a 55-minute private meeting while the Duke of Sussex visits the UK. The previously estranged father and son duo called a truce over a cup of tea.
After arriving in the UK on Monday for the annual WellChild Awards, Harry has been visiting various charity events across the country. On Tuesday, he traveled to Nottingham and today made a stop at Imperial College London.
Following months of speculation, the estranged father and son have reunited at Clarence House. Charles arrived at the royal residence at 3:45 pm after flying from Balmoral, while Harry arrived over an hour after his father at 5:20 pm.
Before departing his event at White City, Harry told the waiting crowd he was “running so late” as he quickly left to his next meeting. The Duke of Sussex arrived at the back entrance of Clarence House for the long-awaited meeting with his father, avoiding the line of photographers eager to capture the father-and-son reunion, the Mirror reports.
It was initially understood that Harry would only have a brief meeting with his father before heading to another engagement in London at around 6pm. However, Prince Harry left Clarence House at 6:15pm, spending 55 private minutes with King Charles.
Royal sources say Harry and Charles had private tea after the King hosted an investiture at Clarence House for Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg, who received an MBE for his work in Holocaust remembrance and education. Mr Goldberg’s portrait, part of the King’s Holocaust survivors project, now hangs in the East Wing of Buckingham Palace alongside six other Holocaust survivor portraits and similar Windrush generation portraits.
Earlier in the afternoon, the King held a Privy Council at St James’ Palace. After meeting with his son, Charles also had an in person audience with South Australia’s premier, Peter Malinauskas.
Following the long-awaited reunion with his youngest son, Charles is set to return to Balmoral tomorrow.
Although Harry met with his father in private on this trip, the Duke of Sussex failed to meet with his brother Prince William or any other royal family member while on his rare trip to the UK.
The reconciliation between Prince Harry and King Charles follows years of tension, which began when Harry and his wife Meghan Markle stepped back from royal duties in 2020 and relocated to California.
Since the pair have quit their royal duties, Meghan and Harry have taken multiple public jabs at the royal family – with their tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, their documentary series on Netflix in 2022, and the release of Prince Harry’s autobiography Spare in 2023.
The numerous accusations against the Firm only deepened the rift between the royal family and the Sussexes, fuelling speculation that Prince Harry and King Charles were not on speaking terms.
Harry spoke to the BBC in May this year, in which became an explosive interview where he expressed his desire to reconnect with his father in light of his cancer diagnosis, as he said he “wasn’t sure how much time” Charles had left.
However the prince admitted “some members of my family may never forgive me” after his years of public criticism of the Firm.
Rumors of a reconciliation between Charles and Harry first emerged in July, after senior aides from both sides were spotted meeting in London, just minutes away from Clarence House.
Speculation about a potential meeting grew when it was revealed that Harry’s trip to the UK would coincide with the third anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s passing, and that Charles had no foreign engagements scheduled during Harry’s return trip.