Prince Harry met his father, King Charles III, at Clarence House in London on Wednesday, September 10, ending a 19-month estrangement that had drawn intense public attention. The Duke of Sussex joined the King for a private tea at his London residence. Reports noted that Harry’s black car was seen arriving shortly after Charles returned from Scotland. Their meeting, which lasted under an hour, concluded with Harry’s quiet departure.
This was the first face-to-face meeting between father and son since February 2024, when Harry briefly visited after Charles revealed his cancer diagnosis. That earlier encounter at Clarence House also lasted less than an hour before Harry returned to California.
Although Harry has appealed publicly for reconciliation in recent months, tensions within the royal family remain. His relationship with his elder brother, Prince William, continues to be distant. Even though both princes were in Windsor on Monday, they did not meet. Instead, Harry chose to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at her grave on the third anniversary of her passing.
Harry has been in Britain since Monday for a series of official and charitable commitments. On Wednesday morning, he toured the Centre for Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College London and later was scheduled to take part in an Invictus Games Foundation event.
This visit marks the fourth time Harry has been in the United Kingdom since his last meeting with Charles, though earlier trips did not include a reunion with his father. Since leaving royal duties in 2020 and settling in California with his wife Meghan Markle, Harry has been outspoken in his criticism of the royal family.
Hints of a thaw between the two sides appeared in July, when aides from both Charles’s and Harry’s offices were seen together in London. That meeting set off speculation about a possible reconciliation, which has now materialised with this short but significant father-son reunion.