Prince Harry had tea with King Charles on September 11 at their first meeting in 20 months, in what was seen as a first step toward ending a much-publicized rift between father and son.
The Duke of Sussex last saw his father in February 2024, shortly after it was announced that the king was undergoing treatment for an unspecified form of cancer.
Since Harry and his wife Meghan moved to California in 2020 where they now live with their two children, they have been highly critical of the royal family and the monarchy in interviews, TV documentaries and Harry's autobiography "Spare."
The Duke made some particularly barbed comments about Charles and his elder brother, Prince William, leading to a total breakdown in his relationship with his family.
But after losing a legal battle with the British government over his security in May, Harry said he wanted a rapprochement.
Following the father-son meeting at Clarence House, a meeting of their representatives also took place in the UK as part of reconciliation between them.
Harry met his father after an interview with BBC in May 2024 during which he said, "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. But you know ... I would love reconciliation with my family. ... There's no point in continuing to fight anymore. And 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."
While the result of their negotiations is not known, Harry has made it abundantly clear that he wants peace with his father at a time when the king is fighting a life-threatening disease.
While King Charles may have his reasons to continue the feud with his son, history tells us that the late Queen Elizabeth's son's troubled marriage with Diana had a deep impact on their sons.
Charles, then Prince of Wales's reluctance towards his family was detailed in a book with an example of Harry's birth.
Instead of being overwhelmed with happiness over the birth of his second son and keeping stuck to his family, Charles went to play polo for the rest of the day after bringing Diana and Harry home.
In his 1993 book, "Diana Vs Charles", journalist James Whitaker wrote:
"Diana was irrelevant to a very large part of his life and, self-questioning though he may be, it never occurred to him that maybe his life would alter when married.
One incident, following the birth of Prince Harry, amply demonstrates the chilly vacuum Diana had experienced for the first time. After giving birth in the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, there was a happy get-together between the newborn child, Prince Charles and Prince William. Charles stayed for ten minutes, then went home for his lunch. He came back, collected his wife, and their new son and drove them back to Kensington Palace. Then he went on to polo where-new baby or no new baby- he spent the rest of the day."
