Harry sees Charles with Meghan and the children; the rebellious prince’s gesture of peace
The meeting, reported by the media on the sidelines of the ‘rebel prince’s’ visit to the UK, is the sovereign’s first with the reunited family of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and his ‘American’ grandchildren since 2022
A gesture of peace to bring a visit – which began under a cloud of foreboding, contrary to all expectations on the eve of the trip – to a close in the spirit of reconciliation. This is the sentiment that seems to emerge from the ‘private’ meeting held on the penultimate day of a visit to Britain that was not without its tensions, between the rebellious Prince Harry and his entire family with his father, King Charles III.
The family gathering, which had been the subject of media speculation in the hours leading up to it following days of uncertainty and conflicting reports, took place on the afternoon of one of the hottest days of this scorching July at Highgrove House, the monarch’s private residence and favourite retreat in Gloucestershire, just under 200 kilometres from London.
Amidst the greenery of a country residence where Charles, with Queen Camilla by his side, was able to be reunited not only with his second son (whom he had not seen since September), but also with his wife Meghan and their young children, the little princes Archie and Lilibet, aged 7 and 5, whom he had last met in person in 2022.
A meeting that, for the time being, remains confined to the private sphere. And one that does not resolve all the problems or the mutual recriminations left unresolved by the traumatic split between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the rest of the Royal Family, which culminated six years ago in their move to America (starting with the chill that continues to weigh on relations between Harry and his elder brother William, the heir to the throne).
But it nevertheless opens – at least in the view of some commentators – a glimmer of hope for the healing of rifts within the Windsor family, which the monarchy (and not just the royal family) certainly needs against the backdrop of the many difficulties afflicting it: from health issues to the uncertainties of the transition, to irreparable scandals such as the one that engulfed the King’s brother, the former Prince Andrew, in connection with his association with the late paedophile and fixer Jeffrey Epstein, to the institution’s overall crisis of popularity (particularly acute amongst the younger generations and the island’s minorities, who are increasingly no longer a minority).
