King Charles may never be able to find his grandchildren again Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet as Prince Harry refuses to bring his family to the UK, sources fear.
THE Duke of Sussex said last week he would not travel to Britain with his wife Meghan because of security fears over a knife or acid attack by a “lone wolf”.
Royal experts told the Mail on Sunday the statement means the king will become “increasingly distant” 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 came back for the late queen Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Prince Harry, 39, has returned 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 might be inspired by something he read in a tabloid.
In an interview with ITV, the Duke of Sussex appeared to confirm that he would travel alone in the future: “It’s enough for a lone actor who reads this stuff to act on what he’s read. And whether it’s a knife or acid, those are things that really concern me. That’s one of the reasons why I’m not bringing my wife back to this country.”
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Asked whether the recent cancer diagnoses of his father and sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales, had made him reconsider his legal battles with the press, the prince replied laconically that they were “two completely different things”.
Harry claimed his fight with the press was “central” to the breakdown of his relationship with his family, saying: “For me, the mission continues, but it has caused… part of a breakdown.”
But as far as King Charles and the Sussex children are concerned, this rift threatens to turn into a chasm.
“It would be great to think that at some point the king might soon visit his grandchildren who he has seen very little of, but he is 75 and still not in the best of health,” said Joe Little, editor of Majesty magazine.
“A visit to America is unlikely to be a priority for him now, given the other demands on his schedule.
“It’s an incredibly sad situation that few people could have predicted even five years ago.”
Royal author Margaret Holder added: “It’s very difficult for the monarch to travel privately. It would take all sorts of diplomacy to get the king to California to see the children.”
“So if the children can’t come here and the king can’t come here, you end up with a grandfather who is undergoing cancer treatment and who is becoming more and more distant.”
Behind palace walls, there is anger at suggestions that King Charles could “resolve” the rift by restoring police protection for Prince Harry. But that power rests exclusively with RAVEC, the Home Office committee that oversees royal security.
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For a prince living in a country where a former president recently survived an assassination attempt, eyebrows have also been raised at the intensity of the duke’s security fears about the UK.
“The question is: is the UK less dangerous than the US, with gun crime so prevalent there?” Mr Little said.
In February, Prince Harry lost his High Court appeal to overturn a ruling that there was nothing unlawful about the decision to reduce his police protection as a non-working royal.
He intends to appeal, but most expect him to travel alone to Britain for the Invictus Games in Birmingham in 2027.
Harry reportedly expressed interest in renting Apartments 1 and 7 at Kensington Palace during his UK visits, which are under police protection and are currently being renovated. However, the Ministry of Justice understands that these apartments would not be allocated to him.
“This whole thing is a disaster,” Holder said. “I might add that it was Prince Harry who He increased the risks to himself, his wife and his family by boasting of killing 25 Taliban fighters in his book.
“King Charles is therefore forced to be a distant grandfather whom the grandchildren never see.”