More than 18 months after Prince Harry’s impromptu 9,000-kilometre dash to see his father for less than an hour following news of his cancer diagnosis, a new claim has emerged about why it was cut so short.
As news of King Charles’ health shock made headlines all over the world, his son – with whom he’d largely been estranged in the months prior – jumped on a plane from his new home in California to show his support.
It was a positive step after years of tension between the royal family and the Duke of Sussex – despite the fact that questions were raised about why it lasted only about 30 minutes.
Royal author Robert Jobson delved into the high-stakes reunion in his new book, The Windsor Legacy: A Royal Dynasty of Secrets, Scandal and Survival, and shed more light on the topic recently in an interview with The Sun’s Royal Exclusive Show.
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He claimed that the King had telephoned his youngest son to share the news of his diagnosis, and that Harry “had taken it upon himself to come over here to Britain”, pointing out that most people “can understand his desire to do so”.
But it came at a time when the royal family was still reeling from Harry’s explosive memoir, Spare, and docu-series, Harry & Meghan, and according to Jobson, the King was “wary” of the topics that could potentially be raised when they finally met face-to-face.
“At the time, I think the King was quite tired, he’d just been given the diagnosis, he was on a new regimen of treatment, and he agreed to see his son … But after the initial meeting, he didn’t want it to go on and on. He was tired and wanted to go back to Sandringham,” he claimed on the program.
“So he arranged for somebody to come in and say there was a procedure that the King had to have.
“He didn’t actually have to have a procedure – he had to go on a helicopter to Sandringham, but it meant the meeting was cut down.”
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The reason, according to the veteran royal author, was to avoid the conversation straying into areas that were “pretty wary”.
“I don’t think the King was particularly keen to be discussing money, the problems with his brother, other issues. So it could just be a meeting for father and son to get together … [Charles] just wanted to rest.”
The revelation comes off the back of the pair’s meeting in September, which was the first time they’d seen each other since their last-minute reunion, which had happened 19 months prior.
After weeks of “will they, won’t they?” coverage in the lead-up to Harry’s well-publicised visit to London in September, the pair were both pictured arriving at Clarence House within minutes of each other for a long-awaited chat.
While still a brief catch-up at just 55 minutes, it was clearly a positive one and came amid months of widespread reports that the pair’s relationship was going from strength to strength.
And at an Invictus Games event following the meeting in September, a smiling Harry was heard responding to a question about his father, confirming: “Yes, he’s great, thank you.”
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