Harry set for UK visit but will he see his father?

London: For five years there has been anger, upset and a deep family divide at the heart of the Royal Family. The rift between King Charles III and the Duke of Sussex has been painful for all involved and played out in public. A resolution has been hard to find. But there are signs tensions are easing and a new understanding between father and son could be within reach.

Prince Harry returns to the UK in just under two weeks’ time. He was last here in April for a court hearing about security. Back then, his father was in Italy on a state visit, so the possibility of a meeting was off the table.

Things are different this time. Not significantly different, but if we follow the evidence there are signs of a slight shift in mood.

For starters, the King will be in the UK. He will be in Scotland at his Balmoral Estate. Harry could go to Scotland but we know the King is regularly travelling south for cancer treatment and some royal engagements, leaving open the chance of seeing his son in person.

The last time that happened was 6 February 2024, immediately after the King went public with his diagnosis. It was a flying visit – quite literally.

The Duke of Sussex landed at Heathrow and was driven straight to Clarence House. He saw his father for little more than half an hour before flying home to the US the following morning.

Then there is the approach of the team now representing Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, in both the UK and the US.

In July, LA-based Meredith Maines, who heads up the communications team around Harry and Meghan, flew to London to visit a number of charities and media organisations, including BBC News, with her UK counterpart, Liam Maguire.

But it wasn’t these meetings that were the eye-catching development. A photographer pictured them at a private members’ club with Tobyn Andreae, the King’s communication secretary. The images were published in the Mail on Sunday under the headline “The secret Harry peace summit”.

Exactly how the photographer came to be in place remains a mystery, with both sides denying they tipped him off. A meeting like this would have seemed unthinkable a couple of years ago. The fact they could all sit around a table and discuss the position they all find themselves in suggests that both would like things to be different.

And then there is the end of the court case over Home Office-provided security when Harry is in the UK – a case he lost.

Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend the cycling medal ceremony at the Cycling Track during day six of the Invictus Games Düsseldorf 2023 on September 15, 2023Getty Images

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex left the UK after stepping back from official royal duties in 2020

The legal proceedings were deeply troubling for Buckingham Palace, which viewed it as the King’s son suing the King’s government through the King’s courts.

While it played out, father and son did not speak to one another. But Harry, 40, did speak to BBC News in May for an exclusive interview with reporter Nada Tawfik.

“I would love a reconciliation with my family,” he said. “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.”

For some, those words were clumsy and sounded harsh regarding his father’s health, especially as the King, 76, has continued with a full diary of events during his cancer treatment and has spoken of being energised by his public duties.

It all adds up to a slight shift in mood around the possibility and willingness for a reconciliation, despite the recent history of rancour and distrust.

The sense of life being short has also come up before.

In Harry’s bestselling memoir, Spare, a book that has done much to fuel the family upset, the duke recalls an exchange with his father and brother after the funeral of his grandfather, Prince Philip, then the Duke of Edinburgh.

The tetchy chat, Harry writes, ended with an intervention from his father. “He stood between us, looking up at our flushed faces: Please boys – don’t make my final years a misery.”

They were words spoken before any cancer diagnosis, before his father was King, from a man in his 70s trying to find a way through a family fallout.