Prince Harry is back in the UK this week and a potential meeting with his estranged father, King Charles, could change his young family’s life for good
07:00, 07 Sep 2025Updated 09:06, 07 Sep 2025
Prince Harry’s visit to the UK this week has the potential to change the course of his and wife Meghan’s family life for generations to come. The Duke of Sussex, who turns 41 this week, is in London to attend the annual WellChild Awards, but it’s widely believed a face-to-face meeting with his estranged father, King Charles, could also be on the agenda.
If that happens, it will be the first time the King, 76, has been in the same room as his youngest son in more than 18 months. But according to royal biographer Tom Bower, it is also “a meeting full of peril”.
“Harry has a huge mountain to overcome,” Tom says. “On a human basis, he used to get on very well with Charles, so particularly from Harry’s perspective, he needs reconciliation. But time is not on their side.
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Meghan and their children remain Harry’s priority, according to Tom Bower(Image: Samir Hussein/WireImage)
“There would be huge levels of emotion involved if they meet. Whatever Charles is facing, he would much prefer to have a good relationship with his son, so I’m sure he wants reconciliation. But he must bear in mind that he’s dealing with someone who could sabotage everything and embarrass him enormously.”
Meghan, meanwhile, is back in Montecito, California, and, according to Tom, feeling safe in the knowledge that she and their children remain Harry’s “priority”.
The pair walked side by side on the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September 2022(Image: Getty Images)
Harry and Charles were once close, Tom says(Image: UK Press via Getty Images)
Harry and Charles were last together when the Duke of Sussex flew over to the UK for just 24 hours following his father’s announcement that he had cancer.
After arriving at Heathrow Airport on 6 February 2024, he travelled straight to Clarence House and spoke with Charles behind closed doors for around half an hour. He returned to the US the next morning.
Prince William has reportedly ‘rejected’ the idea of a reconciliation with his brother(Image: Getty Images)
Opportunities for them to meet since have been few and far between — and hampered by the fact most of Harry’s visits to the UK in the interim were to appear at London’s High Court in his battle over security.
He was, in essence, going head to head with his father’s government in an attempt to reverse the decision that he, Meghan and their children were not entitled to state-backed security when on UK soil. According to Tom, the perceived “risks” of Harry and Charles having any face-to-face contact during that time were simply too great.
“The fear with the court case was that Harry could invent something the King said about the case — and it would cause a constitutional crisis,” Tom claims. “That fear has prevented any meeting until now, but even now the case is over, the fear still remains.”
Prince Harry’s meeting with King Charles could be ‘full of peril’, Tom Bower says(Image: Getty Images)
Harry himself has made it crystal clear that while his priorities ultimately lie in California with his wife and children, he would like to repair things with his family in the UK — particularly his father.
In May, following his High Court defeat, he spoke candidly about the rift, saying, “I would love a reconciliation with my family. I don’t know how much longer my father has. He won’t speak to me because of this security stuff… but it would be nice to reconcile.”
While Harry’s words were no doubt heartfelt, many royal watchers suspected that being so open — particularly about the King’s health — would have done more harm than good.
It likely fed the fear that the duke cannot be trusted to maintain the level of privacy that’s usually non-negotiable within “The Firm”, Tom claims, and this remains Harry’s biggest hurdle.
Harry spoke to the BBC about his hopes to reconcile, and his father’s health(Image: BBC)
Writing his memoir Spare during his grandmother Elizabeth II’s lifetime — although it didn’t hit shelves until after her death — and including what Tom calls “deeply disloyal and possibly dishonest” anecdotes is the biggest reason he’s “no longer trusted” and “has only enemies in the palace”.
“The hurdle Harry is facing is huge, to somehow persuade his father that what he did is in the past,” Tom claims. “I think he will be too stubborn to apologise, because that’s not what he believes, he thinks he has behaved correctly. He simply doesn’t realise the consequences of what he has done.
“The question Charles will be asking is, ‘Can I trust my son?’ and, from Harry’s side, he will be focused on persuading his father he can be trusted, because he has to find a way back into Britain.”
Previously, Harry has spoken of his fears about bringing Meghan, 44, and their children, Archie, six, and Lilibet, four, to the UK, citing safety threats.
Harry’s book contained many bombshells about life in The Firm(Image: Matt Cardy, Getty Images)
Former royal correspondent Jennie Bond tells OK! that Harry is unlikely to meet his father without Meghan’s support, but any reconciliation would leave her in an incredibly difficult position.
According to Jennie, the Duchess of Sussex felt “unsettled and unhappy in her royal life”, and therefore the prospect of having to revisit some of her old life might not be a welcome one.
“It would be natural for her to feel somewhat threatened by her husband being drawn back into the royal circle,” Jennie tells us. “So, I think she would have conflicting emotions about Harry meeting his father, if this is indeed on the cards.
“I’m sure, though, that they would have discussed it, and that Harry would not go ahead if he did not have his wife’s support. I think it’s too early for the prince to involve Meghan and the children in any reconciliation.”
A royal expert says any meeting between Harry and Charles wouldn’t go ahead without Meghan’s support(Image: PA)
There has no been no official word from either side about a potential meeting. And Tom predicts that any contact between Charles and Harry would need the blessing of Prince William, 43, too. And while a reconciliation between the warring brothers seems “unlikely to ever happen”, he claims the Prince of Wales is unlikely to block Harry’s way.
“Because of Charles’s health, William won’t stand in the way of them meeting, it would be inhuman,” Tom tells us. “Camilla is also clearly sympathetic towards Charles, and I think she could brush aside some of the awful things Harry has said about her in Spare and his interviews. It’s not important for her emotionally other than the effect on Charles, and that is clearly something she’s taking into account.”
The talk of possible reconciliation ramped up following the meeting in July between senior aides from the King’s office and representatives from Harry and Meghan’s communications team.
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California-based Meredith Maines, of the Sussexes’ PR team, and her UK counterpart Liam Maguire were photographed on the balcony of a private members’ club in London with Tobyn Andreae, the King’s communication secretary, having what were described as “secret peace talks”.
There were inevitable — and so far unanswered — questions around how the photographer knew the details of the meeting, and Harry was reportedly “frustrated” about the leak.
But if Charles and Harry do sit down together this week, that aides’ meeting will become a mere footnote in what many suspect is still a long and complex story.
“If they meet, it is a beginning but there is a long way to go towards repairing relations to anything close to normal,” Tom claims. “Charles and Harry will hope they can speak, but the elephant in the room is what has happened since he and Meghan stepped down. It will need a few meetings to get the atmosphere down.”
Meghan is not in the UK for Harry’s possible royal reunion
Instead, she is in California with Lilibet and Archie(Image: INSTAGRAM)
Meanwhile, Meghan has remained largely quiet about the family upset since her and Harry’s Netflix documentary series in 2022, concentrating instead on building her As Ever lifestyle brand.
But while she continues to grow her business — with the help of her own Netflix series, With Love, Meghan — and raise Archie and Lilibet in California, Harry is somewhat torn, Tom says.
“I am convinced Harry’s priority is his wife and children, and he will have made that clear. But he’s faced with a dreadful dilemma, in that his wife doesn’t want to come back to Britain, but he is desperate to rebuild roots in Britain.
“He has split loyalties and split ambitions. The choice is between the Devil and the deep blue sea.”
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