Prince Harry (left) says King Charles (right) still 'won’t speak' to him due to an ongoing legal battle over security for the Sussexes. Photos: Reuters, AFP
Prince Harry would “love reconciliation” with his royal relatives, but says King Charles still “won’t speak” to him due to an ongoing legal battle over security for the Sussexes, who on Friday lost an appeal after the UK stripped him of royal security.
Hours after the court decision left the 40-year-old duke, as he put it, “pretty gutted,” he told the BBC that the security battle is “100%” the last hurdle in the royal rift.
“Despite all of our differences, do you not just want to ensure our safety?” Harry said in an emotional interview. “Whatever stories are being written, this has always been the sticking point. … I’m devastated.”
“Of course, some members of my family will never forgive me for writing a book. Of course, they will never forgive me for lots of things. … I would love reconciliation with my family,” Harry said.
“There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore. And I said, life is precious. I don’t know how much longer my father has. He won’t speak to me because of this security stuff. But it would be nice to reconcile.”
His 76-year-old father was diagnosed with cancer in early 2024, around the same time Harry’s sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, was as well. The 43-year-old Princess of Wales announced back in January that she was in remission and “focused on recovery.”
Harry and wife Meghan Markle’s taxpayer-funded royal security was removed after they “stepped back” from senior royal duties in 2020 and decamped to her native California.
The High Court ruled in February 2024 to downgrade his personal security during visits home. Losing that appeal Friday was “a surprise, as well as not a surprise,” Harry said.
“For the time being, it’s impossible for me to take my family back to the UK … safely,” he said, clarifying, “It’s probably too soon to tell” whether he’ll ever bring his family back to his homeland.
“Private security can only do so much,” Harry said. “One of the major things is … in any country, they don’t have jurisdiction. Police protection is effective protection, which is what my grandmother made very clear that we needed.”
The decision, he added, has “set a new precedent, that can be used to control members of the family. And what it does is imprison other members of the family from being able to choose a different life. At the heart of it is a family dispute. And it makes me really really sad that we’re sitting here,” he said. “There’s a duty of care that is being completely thrown out the window.” – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
