Prince Harry and his father, King Charles, have been on thin ice for several years. There has seemingly always been tension between the two, dating all the way back to Charles’ high-profile affair with his now-wife, Queen Camilla (Camilla Parker Bowles). However, things escalated even further after Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, decided to leave the royal family and build a life in the United States.
Harry has returned to the United Kingdom a handful of times, one of which was to attend his father’s coronation ceremony in May 2023. Now, though, the prince is slated to make another London appearance — but his father is leaving town, which means there will be no time for peace talks.
Harry has spent more time in London than he likely expected to due to his legal battles with the British press. Harry has been involved in multiple lawsuits in past years stemming from privacy issues relating to British tabloids, many of which include alleged invasions of privacy in the lives of his former girlfriends and current wife.
Harry is currently suing Mirror Group Newspapers in a lawsuit that stems from alleged phone hacking incidents. The suit was launched more than three years ago, but Harry is just now making court appearances. He’s landed in London several times in the last few months for court-related reasons, though he hasn’t seen much of his family while over there. And it appears that will remain the case with this next visit.
Harry is set to arrive in London in early June 2023, while Charles is set to take a five-day trip to relax in Transylvania, a region in Romania, at the same time. According to Express, Charles owns property in the area and is known to vacation there about once per year. Since the two trips overlap, it’s unlikely Harry and his father will have a chance to speak.
Harry and Charles haven’t been on good terms for a while, though Harry did attend Charles’ coronation in May (Meghan remained home in California with the couple’s two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet). With each passing visit, the public wonders whether Harry and Charles will be able to work things out, but with Charles seemingly absent for Harry’s next UK trip, it appears things are still at a stalemate.
There have been rumors that the royal family, including Charles, is expecting Harry to permanently move back to the UK at some point and that Charles would welcome him with open arms. The next time the two men will meet remains unclear. Charles still has not met Harry’s second child, Lilibet, despite Harry and Meghan having named her after Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II. If the two can get back on solid ground, would Charles even make a trip to California? Time will tell, but for now, the father and son will miss each other with this next trip.