The royal rift appears to be bigger than ever before with Prince Harry's eye-opening interview with the BBC, in which he revealed: "I don't know how much longer my father has, he won’t speak to me because of this security stuff. It would be nice to reconcile."
But back in 2023, the Duke of Sussex opened up about his relationship with King Charles in his explosive memoir, Spare, and he admitted there was something that "created problems" between them long ago.
Around the time of Prince William's wedding, Harry got reflective, admitting: "I'd always assumed I'd be the first to be married, because I'd wanted it so badly. I'd always assumed that I'd be a young husband, a young father, because I'd resolved not to become my father."
He continued: "He'd been an older dad, and I'd always felt that this created problems, placed barriers between us. In his middle years he'd become more sedentary, more habitual. He liked his routines. He wasn’t the kind of father who played endless rounds of tag or tossed a ball until long after dark.
© Tim Graham, Getty"He'd been so once. He’d chased us all over Sandringham, making up wonderful games, like the one where he wrapped us in blankets, like hot dogs, until we screamed with helpless laughter, and then yanked the blanket and shot us out of the other end. I don’t know if Willy or I have ever laughed harder. But, long before we were ready, he stopped engaging in that kind of physical fun. He just didn’t have the enthusiasm—the puff."
As it turns out, Prince Harry was 34 when he became a father to son Prince Archie, slightly older than the UK average of 33.7 years, according to the Office of National Statistics. He was then 36 when he and Meghan Markle welcomed daughter Princess Lilibet in 2021.
© Domic Lipinski/PA/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockHarry's paternity confusion
Another controversial topic addressed inside the pages of his book was the rumour mill around whether Charles is Harry's biological father.
There were press reports that Major James Hewitt was in fact Harry's father, and the media even reported that Charles sat Harry down to dismiss the rumours. But, in Spare, Harry set the record straight. "If Pa had any thoughts about Major Hewitt, he kept them to himself," he penned.
© GettySo what's next for Prince Harry and King Charles?
While Harry has made his wish for a reconciliation clear, there has been silence from the side of Charles and the wider royal family.
"There is zero trust," an insider close to the monarch has told HELLO!. "The family feels that private conversations with Harry are not possible."
© GettyIt was over a year ago when the father-son duo were together as shortly after King Charles' cancer diagnosis was made public, Harry flew to the UK to see him.
