Prince Harry made a swift journey across the Atlantic to meet with his father, King Charles, following the shocking news of the monarch’s cancer diagnosis.
The Duke of Sussex was captured on camera arriving at Clarence House in London after a 10-hour flight from Los Angeles, accompanied by a police escort.
This marked the first time Harry had seen his father since his coronation nine months earlier, but their meeting was disappointingly short-lived.
The much-anticipated reunion lasted a mere half-hour, as King Charles and Queen Camilla were spotted waving to onlookers as they departed from Clarence House around a quarter to four.
The King was then whisked away by helicopter from the Mall to Buckingham Palace, where the royal couple was en route to Sandringham in Norfolk.
Sources from the palace revealed that Charles and Camilla would be residing at Sandringham during the King’s recovery period.
There was a hint of irony in King Charles’s departure via helicopter, seemingly sending a message to Harry not to attempt to catch up with him.
It appeared that the King was displeased about having to wait for Harry’s arrival before heading to Sandringham and was unimpressed by the drama and chaos that accompanied Harry.
Tensions between the father and son had been strained ever since Harry’s decision to step down as a working royal in 2020, exacerbated by Harry’s public criticisms of the royal family in various interviews.
Harry’s controversial memoir, “Spare,” further exacerbated the rift between him and his family, especially with claims that Prince William had physically assaulted him.
In a candid television interview promoting the book, Harry disclosed the strained nature of his relationships with Charles and William, highlighting the lack of communication between them.
Despite the King’s health issues prompting Harry’s return to the UK, any hopes of reconciliation between father and son seemed bleak, given their ongoing estrangement.
In a revealing interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, Harry disclosed that Charles had ceased communication with him when he attempted to discuss stepping down as a working royal.
The most damning revelation came when Harry disclosed that a senior member of the royal family had expressed concerns about the skin color of Harry and Meghan’s son, Archie, prior to his birth.
These revelations further deepened the existing fractures within the royal family.
Following the release of “Spare,” tensions escalated as Harry criticized Queen Camilla for her interactions with the media and her attempts to improve her public image at his expense.
Shortly after the book’s publication, Harry and Meghan were asked to vacate Frogmore Cottage near Windsor Castle, reportedly under the King’s directive.
Despite the upheavals and controversies surrounding the royal family, the prospects of reconciliation between Harry and his estranged family members, particularly King Charles and Prince William, remain uncertain.