Prince Harry has met his father in London.
The prince landed in Britain after a dramatic dash from California to be at the king’s side, after his father told him in a personal phone call that he had cancer.
Harry, 39, was photographed being driven into the gates of his father’s London residence, Clarence House, at around 2:45 p.m.
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Shortly before 4 p.m., the king was photographed being driven out of Clarence House to Buckingham Palace, from where he was expected to fly by helicopter to his country house in Norfolk, Sandringham.
Harry had flown from Los Angeles to London’s Heathrow overnight, landing at around 12:30 p.m. It is not known where he is staying.
The royal’s race to be with his father has fueled hopes Harry’s relationship with his father may be on the mend.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Tuesday that King Charles’ cancer has been “caught early,” suggesting his prognosis is good. That suggestion was echoed in a report in the Daily Mail, in which a friend was quoted as saying: “From what I know he is up and about as usual and he is so positive that you wouldn’t know he even had a condition. Luckily it has, as far as anyone can tell, been caught very early.”
Nonetheless, Harry rushed home to be with his father.
The relationship was damaged by Harry’s brutal attacks on Charles and Queen Camilla in his memoir, Spare. He alleged he was “sacrificed” by Camilla to enhance her own image and fulfil her ambition to be queen.
The king retaliated by kicking Harry out of his house on the royal estate, Frogmore Cottage. Some of the king’s aides and friends have sought not to inflame the issue by keeping quiet, but others have made no secret of the king’s sadness and disappointment at his son’s behavior.
One of the most revealing assessments of the true state of the relationship between father and son was made by Sir Nicholas Soames, a British aristocrat descended from Winston Churchill, said by some to be the king’s best friend.
He gave an interview on the eve of the king’s coronation excoriating Prince Harry for “hurtful” behavior of “the cruelest” kind toward his father.
Soames told Times Radio, “In respect of Prince Harry, I just think it’s the most tragic. I mean, I can’t put myself in the position where my own son, if he did something like that to me, it would just be the cruelest… and one would mind.”
He added, “Of course, the king was very, very sad,” and said the situation was “tragic,” adding, “But, we all have families. We’ve all lived through it. But it was a terrible blow.”
Soames was asked later in the interview how Queen Camilla felt about Harry but dodged the question saying he hadn’t discussed it with her, returning instead to how Harry’s public attacks on the family had affected Charles, saying, “Of course it was hurtful, you could see it, written all over his face. Put oneself in his position. It was just painful beyond words.”
Harry’s brief in and out attendance at the coronation was seen as a sign that he did not feel welcomed by his family.
In November, however, Harry’s team briefed that he had called his father to wish him a happy 75th birthday, and that his children had sung “Happy Birthday” to their grandfather in a video message.
Harry is reported by the Daily Mail to have touched down on a British Airways flight to London Heathrow shortly after noon local time, but Meghan, Archie and Lilibet have stayed at their home in California.
He was thought to be hoping to meet with his father today, but the palace would not confirm that.
In Spare, Harry wrote that Charles begged his sons to make peace, saying: “Please boys, don’t make my final years a misery.”
Harry’s arrival comes as the palace seems set on trying to dial down any sense of urgency or panic following Monday’s shock announcement.
