Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are currently in Nigeria, enjoying a warm welcome and looking very happy as they interact with the key figures and the general population of the country. No one would take a look at Harry’s face and guess that he started this journey with a heavy heart after his father gave him the cold shoulder and openly snubbed him not once, but twice.
It is widely known that Harry was in the U.K. to attend the Invictus Games, just two miles away from Buckingham Palace. The overarching expectation was for King Charles to make time to meet his younger son since he was actively trying to attend his other engagements despite his ongoing cancer treatment and the air of pessimism around him.
But it was soon announced the meeting wouldn’t be happening, with Harry sharing a pointed statement revealing that his father couldn’t fit in a brief meet-up with him in his calendar.
“In response to the many inquiries and continued speculation on whether or not the duke will meet with his father while in the UK this week, it unfortunately will not be possible due to His Majesty’s full program. The duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”
Since then, multiple sources have revealed different descriptions of what went down behind the scenes. Famous royal historian, Hugo Vickers, has shared with Page Six that the king could have found the time to see Harry “very easily” as the latter had been trying to set up a meeting for over a month, giving Charles enough advance notice to make space for his son.
The tabloid Sunday Times (via Daily Beast) has also offered varying accounts of the supposed truth – while friends of Harry stress he had been asking to meet his father for a while now and was cruelly refused, those close to the king started peddling a different version of the events, where Charles did agree to meet his son, but reportedly his youngest never formally invited him to the Invictus Games Foundation event.
*sigh* Which side to believe? Well, Charles soon gave his opposition’s argument more gravitas by handing over the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps to Prince William, even though it was Harry who served with the unit during his second tour of Afghanistan. Yes, Harry is no longer a senior royal and yes, this decision was probably planned a long time ago, but the snub taking place immediately after Charles and Harry’s meeting got shelved makes the accusations of the king shooting down his son’s multiple requests to see him even more believable.
We don’t know if Harry would or is already interested in a reconciliation with his family, but based on King Charles’ behavior, it looks like he has already made up his mind.