Prince Harry says father, King Charles, no longer speaks to him but hopes to reconcile
Britainās Prince Harry has revealed that his father, King Charles, no longer speaks to him and that he cannot imagine bringing his family back to the UK after losing a court case over his security arrangements on Friday.
In an explosive interview with the BBC after the court ruling, where at times he was visibly emotional, Harry described being ādevastatedā at the decision, which he said made it āimpossibleā for him to return to the UK with his wife Meghan and his two young children.
But he said that he would āloveā to repair the rift with his family, which he said had broken down over the security issue. The king āwonāt speak to me because of this security stuff,ā he said.
The British government downgraded Harryās security in 2020 after he and Meghan stepped down as senior royals. āWhen that decision happened, I couldnāt believe it. I actually couldnāt believe it,ā he said. āI thought, with all the disagreements and all of the chaos thatās happening, the one thing that I could rely on is my family keeping me safe.ā
Harry spoke with the BBC in California, where he has been living with Meghan and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, since relocating to the United States in 2020.
Interviews like this are not common for the royal family, though Harry and his wife made headlines in 2021 after speaking to Oprah Winfrey, with Meghan sharing that life as a working royal made her contemplate suicide. In the interview, the couple also alleged that there were āconcernsā from the royal family during her pregnancy about how dark their unborn baby Archieās skin would be.
The case the Duke of Sussex lost on Friday was deeply personal to him. He had previously expressed how important it is to ensure his family has security when they visit the UK.
āThe only thing Iāve been asking for throughout this whole process is safety,ā Harry said in his interview Friday, calling the situation a āgood old-fashioned establishment stitch up.ā
For the duke, there has been a sense of not wanting history to repeat itself, and he has frequently drawn comparisons between the treatment of his wife to that faced by his mother, Diana. The late Princess of Wales died in 1997 after suffering internal injuries resulting from a high-speed car crash in Paris, while being pursued by paparazzi.
Harry said it was currently āimpossibleā to bring his family to his home country. āI canāt see a world in which Iād be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point,ā he said.
The Duke of Sussex also discussed the years-long rift between him and the royal family, sharing that there have been āso many disagreementsā between him and some of his family members, but that the situation surrounding his police protection is the āsticking point.ā
āIt is the only thing thatās left,ā he said. āOf course, some members of my family will never forgive me for writing a book. Of course, they will never forgive me for lots of things. But, you know ⦠I would love reconciliation with my family. Thereās no point in continuing to fight anymore.ā
The publication of Harryās book āSpareā in 2023 ripped open old wounds in the family after he shared scathing and intimate details about his experience as a royal.
Later that year, the duke appeared briefly at the coronation of his father, sitting with his uncle Prince Andrew in the third row of the service. Both are non-working royals and did not perform any duties during the ceremony.
On Friday, Harry said that, despite their fractious relationship, he would like to make amends with the king, who last year was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer.
āI donāt know how much longer my father has,ā he added. āHe wonāt speak to me because of this security stuff, but it would be nice to reconcile.ā
A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace told CNN on Friday that all of the issues Harry raised in the interview were āexamined repeatedly and meticulously by the courts, with the same conclusion reached on each occasion.ā