Reasons Behind Charles Finally Agreeing to Meet Harry for 50 Minutes — Despite Trust Issues
Prince Harry and the wider royal family have been estranged for a while now, thanks to the many bombshell claims the Duke of Sussex made in his 2023 tell-all memoir, Spare. But despite the alleged feud and trust issues, King Charles finally agreed to privately meet his youngest son in September. Interestingly, the meeting did not happen by accident or through a simple phone call between the two. In fact, there were three main reasons why, despite their past, Charles agreed to meet the Duke. From a reported ‘peace summit’ to declining health and emotional longing to see his grandchildren, the factors finally aligned for a historic 50-minute reunion.
While Meredith Maines is the 11th publicist to leave Harry and Markle’s side in five years, she allegedly played a big role in reuniting the Prince with his father. A source told Mail Online that she, along with Liam Maguire, who heads the Duke and Duchess’s UK PR team, got together at a private members' club in London with the King’s press secretary, Tobyn Andreae, to begin a formal ‘rapprochement process.’ “There was no formal agenda. But both sides came to the table ready to talk. It’s the first real channel of communication we’ve seen in years,” the source told the outlet. After the summit, Maines is said to have jetted back to Montecito to brief the Duke on a potential visit.
The meeting is also said to be driven by Harry’s very public and emotional pleas. In a BBC interview in May, he discussed his desire to reconcile with his family. He admitted, “I would love a reconciliation with my family. There's no point continuing to fight any more, life is precious,” expressing urgency regarding his father’s declining health. Harry also noted that due to security concerns, his father wouldn't speak to him, but he did not want to further extend the feud because he did “not know how much longer my father has.” This vulnerability of the Prince reportedly softened the Palace’s stance, leading to the private tea at Clarence House for 50 minutes.
Perhaps the most emotional reason for the sit-down was the King’s desire to reconnect with his grandchildren, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. As per reports, during his visit, the Prince brought a framed photograph of his kids to give to Charles. Since the monarch hadn’t seen them since 2022, it served as a heartwarming present for him. This was something that even royal expert Ingrid Seward had also opined while speaking to The Mirror. Talking about the monarch, she noted, “Family has always been important to the King. He remembers his own somewhat fragmented childhood as his parents were always busy doing their duty. It is a great sadness to him he doesn't see more of Archie and Lilibet.”
Seward suggested that it's because of Archie and Lilibet that Charles will never completely break ties with Harry. So whether a reunion is in the cards for the father-son duo is still uncertain, but reports do suggest that Harry is definitely hoping for a reconciliation. He is allegedly ‘begging’ Meghan Markle to return to the UK, claiming 2026 to be quite ‘urgent.’ Though only time will tell if a royal reconciliation ever takes shape or not.