Why King Charles Refuses to Reach Out to Prince Harry, Royal Expert Explains


Prince Harry’s efforts to rebuild his relationship with King Charles III seem to have stalled once again.

After Harry recently spoke about the ongoing tension with his father, a royal expert suggested that the King’s silence isn’t accidental—it’s part of a long-standing royal approach.

Following Harry’s legal defeat over his UK security arrangements on May 2, he mentioned that King Charles still hasn’t responded to any of his outreach. According to royal expert Christopher Andersen, there’s a reason behind the King’s continued silence.

“It really does look like Charles is taking the ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ axiom to a whole other level, doesn’t it?” said Andersen. He added, “The King is only hewing to a long-standing royal practice of not dignifying something by commenting on it. The Palace does not want to give oxygen to Harry’s remarks.”

Andersen said that King Charles III is juggling many personal and public duties, and getting into a public argument with his son wouldn’t do him any good. Meanwhile, Harry has taken a very different path — something that was clear in his attention-grabbing BBC News interview.

The royal expert believes Harry chose to speak out because the palace has remained silent behind the scenes. “It must be terribly frustrating for him not to even be able to get through to his father on the phone. There’s a real Catch 22 here: As long as the Palace ignores Harry in the vain hope that he’ll go away, it puts him in the position of having to amp up the volume of his public comments,” he speculated.

Even though there’s still tension, Harry has said he wants to make peace with the royal family. He pointed out that keeping the conflict going doesn’t help anyone. He also mentioned King Charles’ fight with cancer, saying no one knows how much time his father has left.

Andersen thinks Harry might truly want to fix things, but says the way he’s going about it isn’t helping. He said, “If Harry really wants to reconcile with his family, he has an odd way of showing it.”

Andersen also noted that while Harry has talked about wanting to reconnect, he’s also accused the palace of getting involved in his legal issues. Harry, now 40, has questioned how much the family really cares about the safety of Meghan and their kids. He even said he can’t imagine bringing Meghan, Archie, and Lilibet back to the UK right now.

 

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Still, according to Andersen, Harry is asking for a chance to make peace with his father, partly because of King Charles’ declining health — a reason that feels a bit contradictory considering the strong accusations he’s made in public.

The court ruling on May 2 wrapped up Harry’s latest legal dispute with the UK government about the security measures in place for him and his family when they visit the UK.

While the court recognized that he made a strong case about the dangers they face, it said his feelings of unfairness didn’t qualify as a solid legal argument.

At the heart of his case was the Ravec committee — the group in charge of royal security under the Home Office. Harry claimed he was treated unfairly when he lost the full, automatic protection that other senior royals still receive.

He argued that his case should have been reviewed by Ravec’s Risk Management Board (RMB), which looks into possible threats — but that step was skipped.

Although the judges admitted that the committee didn’t follow the usual process when making decisions about his security back in 2020, they still believed it was a fair decision because of how unique and complicated his situation was.

Harry has said that the changes to his security didn’t just affect him — they also impacted his wife and children. He suggested that officials knew the risks of reducing their protection in 2020 and hinted that it might have been done to push them into returning to royal duties.

 

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“But then when you realise that didn’t work, do you not want to keep us safe? Whether you’re the government, the Royal Household, whether you’re my dad, my family — despite all of our differences, do you not want to just ensure our safety?” he asked.

When asked if he missed living in the UK, the father of two said he still cares deeply for the country, even though he feels let down by certain people there. He shared that it’s painful to think he might never get the chance to properly show his children the place he still sees as home.