Prince Harry and King Charles will not reunite in London. Photo / AP, Getty Images
In 2023, the King’s Birthday holiday came off the back of a successful coronation of King Charles III that heralded in a new era for the British monarchy.
One year later, and there’s little to celebrate for the royals this year.
While King Charles is returning to royal duties after his treatment for cancer, Princess Kate reportedly has an empty diary for the rest of the year as she continues her treatment and recovery from her own cancer journey.
It means Prince William continues to lead the way for the family, with reports of him having to call in his cousins to assist with some duties.
In among the health crises and overstuffed diaries, more tensions have emerged between Prince Harry and his family, after he visited London and did not meet with the King while in town.
UK correspondent Gavin Grey told The Front Page that this laid bare the rift between father and son.
“I think we’ve talked about it before, but without any evidence. I think this is hard evidence. One of the engagements that Prince Charles was doing was a tea party. Now, you’re not telling me that he couldn’t have squeezed in half an hour for Prince Harry. Harry was, at one point, 3km away. It’s just so sad actually.
“I would say this - a source of mine said, ‘imagine if you think that, you are meeting your son or you are meeting your brother and you’re not sure whether anything you say is then going to be made public and put into print’.”
The meeting came after Harry and Meghan visited Nigeria, which looked like an unofficial royal tour. Grey said it likely worried the monarchy, as they don’t want the Sussexes to look like they are representing the family.
“News reaches me that William really was not amused by it at all, and that they should be a lot clearer in making it public that this is not an official royal tour, but of course then that feeds into the argument about, well, let’s strip their titles then, and King Charles is extremely reluctant to do that.”
As for the King’s health, Grey understands that officials are still planning for a royal visit to Australia and New Zealand later this year, likely after the King’s treatment has ended.
And while Kate’s diary is empty currently, Grey believes we will start seeing more of her sooner rather than later.
“[Queen Elizabeth II] had this thing about, to be believed we need to be seen. In other words ... a monarch is not a monarch if they hide themselves away and people start to speculate as we’ve seen in this world of social media. And so I think we will see them out and about more.”
Listen to the full episode for more on the latest with King Charles, Prince William and Princess Kate, and why plans for a slimmed down monarchy have not changed.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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