Just what obstacles stand in the way of any potential reunion between Prince Harry and his family in the UK are likely known only by the parties involved.
That there is an underlying sense of resentment is hardly deniable, with the likes of King Charles and Prince William reportedly feeling betrayed by Harry’s decision to air their dirty laundry after he and Meghan Markle stepped away from the Royal Family.
An explosive Oprah Winfrey interview, candid Netflix documentary, and one stunningly honest memoir later, and there’s barely been a stone left unturned with regards to Harry and Meghan’s bad experiences as pertains to their lives as working royals.
Indeed, I think most fans would agree that the situation has been allowed to deteriorate well past the point most people would have thought possible. Harry and Meghan are very rarely seen on the UK side of the Atlantic these days, and when they are, they’re not exactly welcomed back into the royal fold as would befit their status and title.
No, when Harry returned to his homeland after word of King Charles’s cancer diagnosis broke earlier this year, it’s said he was given a brief meeting with his father before the latter flew to Sandringham. Not only that, but Harry was forced to stay the night in a hotel before flying back to the US.
As for Harry and William’s relationship, meanwhile, things appear to be somehow even worse than that of Harry and Charles.
Once the celebrated epitome of brotherly love, the late Princess Diana’s two sons have both contributed to the breakdown of their famed bond. It’s now reported that William – along with his wife, Kate Middleton, for that matter – no longer trusts Harry, and has not wanted to meet his younger brother in person.
Yet all the drama might have been avoided had Charles and William been more receptive at a “secret meeting” Harry reportedly “begged” for back in 2021.
As per Radar Online, the meeting came after the initial period of turbulence relating to Harry and Meghan’s decision to step back from their roles as working royals, and just one month on from their aforementioned interview with Oprah.
Harry had traveled back to the UK for the funeral of his grandfather, Prince Philip, and was perhaps hoping to nip things in the bud concerning the growing unrest initiated by what he and Meghan had told the world via Oprah.
The Duke of Sussex revealed in his memoir, Spare, that he had waited anxiously for his brother and father after arranging the secret meeting, while also admitting that he feared they might cancel the meeting altogether.
In his book, the duke wrote of seeing his father and brother: “I rose from the wooden bench, made a tentative step towards them, gave a weak smile. They didn’t smile back. Now my heart really started thrashing in my chest. Deep breaths, I told myself. Apart from fear, I was feeling a kind of hyper-awareness, and a hugely intense vulnerability, which I’d experienced at other key moments of my life. Walking behind my mother’s coffin. Going into battle for the first time. Giving a speech in the middle of a panic attack.”
He added. “There was that same sense of embarking on a quest, and not knowing if I was up to it, while also fully knowing that there was no turning back. That Fate was in the saddle. ‘OK, Mummy,’ I thought, picking up the pace, here goes. ‘Wish me luck.’ We met in the middle of the path. Willy? Pa? Hello. Harold. Painfully tepid.”
At the time of writing, relations between Harry, Charles and William aren’t showing much sign of improvement. This in spite of the respective cancer blows suffered by Charles and Kate Middleton.
Do you think there’s hope for Harry with regards to building the bridges burned within the monarchy? Let us know in the comments.