Forlorn, battered and bruised from his experiences in the courtroom, Prince Harry declared he could no longer fight anymore – for in his own words, “life is precious”.
That sentence was uttered more than a year ago, following the loss of his appeal over the levels of security he believes he and his family are entitled to while in the UK.
Since Harry and his wife Meghan quit their royal roles in 2020, the Duke of Sussex has been no stranger to the court room, nor to earning incredible amounts of money at the expense of the family he left behind.
Only now, after the book promos, the interviews and the Netflix series have all but dried up, he is seeking reconciliation with his loved ones that he has largely been estranged from for the past six years.
There is of course the matter of his father’s health. To his credit, Harry did drop everything, although no one can be quite sure how full his schedule is aside from his various legal disputes, to rush to be by his father’s side following his announcement in February 2024 that he had been diagnosed with cancer.
Since that meeting, which lasted just 30 minutes, Harry’s dealings with the King have been brief and showed little signs of significantly moving toward the rapprochement he now craves.
The King has shown no signs of clearing the decks for that to happen, continuing with a packed schedule of commitments and engagements both at home and abroad. Those close to him suggest if you didn’t know his diagnosis, there would be little clue to the suffering he has endured.
Weekly treatments, a hospitalisation mid-way through – described merely as “a bump in the road” – and the weight of expectation he has put on himself to secure a legacy, while not fully knowing his prognosis or how his treatment may turn out in the long run.
Those in his circle suggest that is the absolute demonstration of service and duty that has become such a debate to those that have left the camp.
Long before the announcement that they were leaving their royal roles in search of “financial freedom”, Harry and Meghan plotted a scenario where they would be the first royals to create a new way of working for The Firm.
The ‘half in-half out’ model suggested was roundly shot down by the late Queen Elizabeth II leading to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex having to leave the institution with nothing other than their association with the royal family.
For a good while, that connection served as almost the sole vehicle to earning tens of millions of pounds in the corporate world, seemingly without regard to the destruction of the relationships they had vowed to honour. There is no doubt, aside from those who fawn over their every announcement or TV appearance, their star has fallen along with their global popularity.
What better way to resurrect one’s profile than to cosy up to the royal family who enjoy favourable approval ratings and a monarchy who has garnered as much respect for his global statesman role, as he has genuine sympathy for the way he has handled this particular family fallout.
Harry and Meghan’s latest meeting with the King and Queen, who attended as a watchful eye over any potential deviations from the planned pleasantries, is a key moment for the Sussexes. There is little chance the Prince and Princess of Wales will welcome them back into palace grounds, let alone the royal fold.
Now I have learned that Harry wants to capitalise on this new found relationship by planning to convince his father to be by his side for the homecoming of his Invictus Games event.
It just so happens that the one man who would have had the power to convince the monarch against the idea, the King and Queen’s principal private secretary Sir Clive Alderton, is to step down from his role next year after more than two decades of service to the royal household. This may yet prove decisive in Harry’s plan to achieve a very public reunion.
