King Charles may never reunite with his grandchildren Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet as Prince Harry refuses to bring his family to the UK, sources fear.
The Duke of Sussex declared last week that he will not travel to Britain with his wife Meghan due to security fears of a knife or acid attack from a ‘lone actor’.
Royal experts told The Mail on Sunday that the statement means the King will become ‘more and more remote’ from the children in an ‘incredibly sad situation’.
King Charles last saw Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, in June 2022 when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex returned for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Prince Harry, 39, has been back to the UK several times since then without his wife and children for his legal battle with the Government over the loss of his taxpayer-funded security.
As part of his ongoing campaign against British journalism, he suggested that an attacker could be inspired by something they have read in a tabloid newspaper.
In an ITV interview, the Duke of Sussex appeared to confirm that he would travel solo in future: ‘All it takes is for one lone actor who reads this stuff to act on what they’ve read. And whether it’s a knife or acid, these are things that are genuine concerns for me. It’s one of the reasons why I won’t bring my wife back to this country.’
When asked if the recent cancer diagnoses of both his father and sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales, had made him reconsider his legal battles against the press, the Prince tersely replied that they were ‘two completely different things’.
Harry claimed his fight against the press has been ‘a central piece’ in the breakdown of his relationship with his family, stating: ‘For me, the mission continues, but it has caused… part of a rift.’Â
But where King Charles and the Sussex children are concerned, that rift threatens to become a chasm.
‘It would be great to think that at some point soon the King would get to visit the grandchildren that he has seen very little of, but he is 75 and still not in the best of health,’ said Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine.
‘A visit to America is unlikely to be a high priority now, given the other demands on his time.
‘It’s an incredibly sad situation that few would have predicted even five years ago.’
Royal author Margaret Holder added: ‘It is very difficult for the monarch to travel as a private person. All kinds of diplomacy would have to be involved to get the King into California to see the children.
‘So if the children can’t come here and the King can’t go there, you are looking at a situation where you’ve got a grandfather, who is undergoing cancer treatment, becoming more and more remote.’
Behind Palace walls there is frustration about suggestions that King Charles ‘could solve’ the rupture by returning Prince Harry’s police protection. But that power lies exclusively with RAVEC, the Home Office committee that oversees royal security.
For a prince living in a country where a former president recently survived an assassination attempt, eyebrows were also raised about the intensity of the Duke’s security fears about the UK.
‘You have to ask yourself: is the UK any less dangerous than the US, with gun crime so prevalent over there?’ said Mr Little.
In February Prince Harry lost his High Court challenge to overturn the ruling that there was nothing unlawful in the decision to downgrade his police protection as a non-working royal.
He intends to appeal, but most expect that he will travel alone to Britain for the Invictus Games in Birmingham in 2027.
Harry had reportedly expressed interest in renting Apartments One and Seven at Kensington Palace on UK visits, which are protected by police and are undergoing renovations. However, the MoS understands the flats would not be allocated for his use.
‘The whole thing is a mess,’ said Ms Holder. ‘I would add that it is Prince Harry who increased the risk to himself, his wife and his family by boasting about killing 25 Taliban fighters in his book.
‘So King Charles is forced to be a distant grandfather that the grandchildren never see.’