After Harry’s latest UK visit, the King and his closest aides seem to have concluded that bridges can be rebuilt and trust between father and son can be slowly restored, reports ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship
After his overnight train into and back out of Ukraine last week, it’s no longer correct to say that Prince Harry managed to get through his entire trip to Europe without talking about his family.
During his time in the UK in the previous four days, the only words that the Duke of Sussex made in the public domain were about the charities and causes he had come to support.
Even at the WellChild charity awards at the start of the week, which coincided with the third anniversary of the death of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, Harry decided not to say anything about the significance of the day.
He had laid a wreath at the late Queen’s grave in the morning, but there were no pictures and no words about her when he gave a speech that night.
The plan had been taken by the duke and his team to play it safe. They didn’t want to give their critics in the tabloid press yet more ammunition.
If he said anything about his family, his team knew they would take precedence over anything he said or did for the causes he was championing.
It was all helped by having a new, grown-up media operation in place, which recognised the level of interest in Harry’s return visit and the need to grant access to him so journalists could report accurately and fairly on what the prince was doing.
And nor did they want to scupper the chances of a face-to-face meeting with his father, given Harry and King Charles had not seen each other for a year and a half.
But once that meeting had happened and once Harry could look back on the UK trip more reflectively, he did respond to questions about his family in an interview with the Guardian on the journey to and from Kyiv.
His priority over the coming year, we learn, is his father.
Few can criticise him for that, given King Charles’ cancer treatment – which continues 19 months after it was announced.
Following their 45-minute private chat at Clarence House on Wednesday, the King and his closest aides seem to have concluded that bridges can be rebuilt and trust between father and son can be slowly restored.
In his conversation with the Guardian in Ukraine, Harry did not express any regrets for what he has said about his family in his book, Spare, or in any of his appearances on Netflix and TV interviews.
Instead, he spoke about his conscience being clear and that he has only been telling the other side of stories that were already out there.
Nevertheless, he could have used this newspaper chat to stick the boot into his family and the monarchy once again, but, significantly, he chose not to.
In fact, we learn a lot more from the article about Harry’s personal popularity in Ukraine and the frighteningly large number of military personnel with permanent injuries as a result of the Russian invasion.
If Harry had founded the Invictus Games because of the British and Americans coming back from Afghanistan with life-changing injuries, it is clear the world’s focus in this area should now be on Ukraine.
There are 130,000 people with injuries like lost limbs who need a programme of rehabilitation, possibly for life.
The memorial to the fallen soldiers that Harry visited in Kyiv was, he said, is ‘one of the saddest things’ he’s ever seen.
It is why Harry, and the Invictus Games movement he started, is increasingly well-known in Ukraine, and the need for their services is vast.
It’s never lost in the military community that when wounded veterans take part in an Invictus tournament, the next one is in Birmingham in 2027, they return home to an ongoing war, not to a country living in peace.
Looking back on last week’s visit, it seems like it closed a door on a period when Prince Harry – still number fifth in the Line of Succession – wanted to vent his frustrations.
It is still far, far too soon to start repairing things with Prince William, but Harry and the King have decided that they can move things forward, little by little.
Most people will welcome the news of father and son being on better terms, especially when the King is undergoing a serious health condition.
Harry says he lives by some advice Meghan gave him which is to ‘just stick to the truth’ and most people might argue that is a sensible way to live one’s life.
But equally, when it comes to the Royal Family and his home country with which Harry is clearly looking to rebuild a relationship, you do have decide, every so often, to keep some truths to yourself.
Follow STV News on WhatsApp
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
