Prince Harry visited London last week for a two-day hearing, but his visit overlapped with King Charles and Queen Camilla’s state visit to Italy. Harry has been challenging the dismissal of his High Court claim against the Home Office over the decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) that he should receive a different degree of protection when in the UK, after it was downgraded.
Royal biographer Robert Hardman claims the reason for there not to be a meeting between father and son will have been due to Harry’s court battle. Talking on the Daily Mail’s Palace Confidential Show, he explained: “There is legal jeopardy which is the simple fact that here you have the son of the King suing the King’s ministers in the King’s court and that just creates all sorts of legal problems.”
The royal expert explained: “It would only need Harry to have a conversation with his father and then afterwards let slip, ‘Oh my dad said this or my dad said that’ and as we know, he does repeat conversations quite readily. That could lead to all sorts of problems. It could actually bring down a court case because the king is the fount of justice. He has got to be very careful.”
It is reported that Harry suggested the decision taken over his security arrangements in the UK was an attempt to prevent him and wife Meghan from quitting as working royals and moving abroad – which Buckingham Palace sources have vehemently denied. Harry said: “We were trying to create this happy house.”
Harry has been embroiled in a long-running battle over his security when he comes to the UK after he automatically lost the right to his police protection when he stepped down as a working royal in 2020 alongside Meghan Markle.
The recent proceedings concluded on Wednesday with a decision on the outcome of the case expected in writing at a later date.
According to HELLO!, there were also scheduling problems that prevented Harry and his father from reuniting. The King arrived in London at 10:30am on Sunday for a scheduled cancer treatment, so it was “not possible” for Harry to meet with him. The Duke of Sussex, who travelled without his wife and two children, reportedly arrived in the UK around 3:30pm.
It is believed the pair have not seen eachother since February 2024, when Prince Harry jumped on a plane and dashed to his dad’s side, after he announced he had been battling with cancer, with many hoping it would begin the process of reconciliation.
But the meeting was brief, and just 45 minutes after Harry arrived at Clarence House, his father’s London home, Charles left to head to Sandringham.
Harry then spent just a few more hours in the UK before boarding a flight back to California.
