King Charles’s relationship with Prince Harry is “deeply strained and beyond distant” following a key moment after the duke’s bombshell departure from the Royal Family, a royal commentator has claimed. The Duke of Sussex saw his relationship with his family, particularly his father as well as brother, Prince William, go frosty after he moved to the US in 2020.
Prince Harry recently returned to the UK to appear at a two-day hearing about his appeal on a High Court ruling regarding his downgraded security in Britain. But he failed to see his father, with the pair meeting for the last time last February, when the duke dashed back home following Charles’s shock cancer announcement. Now, royal expert Hilary Fordwich said that Harry’s relationship with his father is even more strained than it was back in 2023 during the King’s Coronation, following the latest update in his legal battle with the UK Government.
She told Fox News: “Their relationship is… deeply strained and beyond distant, way worse when Harry was placed three rows back at his father’s Coronation.
“It has been exacerbated by Prince Harry’s public legal battle regarding security.
She added: “King Charles has been intentionally avoiding Harry to prevent not only legal entanglement but further hurt and drama.
“This is being driven also by those who are hired to protect King Charles from his courtiers, who unanimously see Harry as despicable. Reconciliation is highly unlikely in the foreseeable future.”
The expert added that Harry’s relationship with the Prince of Wales is “just as bad”.
Harry is currently 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 taxpayer-funded protection when in the country.
Last year, High Court judge Sir Peter Lane ruled that Ravec’s decision, taken in early 2020 after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit as senior working royals, was not irrational or procedurally unfair, but the duke appealed.
The Home Office, which has legal responsibility for Ravec’s decisions, is opposing the appeal, with its lawyers previously telling the High Court that decisions were taken on a “case-by-case” basis.
Last week, Shaheed Fatima KC, for the duke, told the appeal hearing that he had been “singled out for different, unjustified and inferior treatment”, adding that Harry “does not accept that ‘bespoke’ means ‘better’.”
