Prince Harry ‘regrets’ some of his actions since Megxit and his trip to Britain was about resetting his relationship with his family and the British people, according to an insider.
The Duke of Sussex, 40, is in Ukraine today after four days of successful engagements in London and Nottingham as well as a reconciliation meeting with King Charles for the first time in 19 months.
A royal source has told the Daily Mail that the past week could be the start of Harry, Meghan and their two children being part of a ‘functioning wider family again’.
The King is said to be keen to rebuild his relationship with his son and wants to spend time with his grandchildren Archie and Lilibet, who he has not seen for three years.
‘It’s become clear that Harry now regrets some of his actions. He wants to reset his relationship with his family and with the people of the UK’, an insider has said.
‘It’s hard to see him ever coming back to live in Britain but this may be the start of something that at least allows them to be a functioning wider family again.’
It came after Prince Harry’s spokesman said he ‘loved’ being back in the UK and ‘catching up’ with his good causes and friends.
In May after losing his High Court battle with the Home Office, Harry himself told the BBC that he would ‘would love a reconciliation’ with the Royal Family, adding: ‘There’s no point continuing to fight any more, life is precious’.
Prince Harry, pictured in Kyiv today, wants to reset his relationship with his family and the UK
King Charles arrives at Clarence House, in London, ahead of a meeting with his son Harry. The monarch has made no secret of his wish to spend time with his grandchildren and once begged Harry and William not to make his life a misery
At one point Harry was just three miles from the Prince and Princess of Wales but there was no meeting
The King reportedly begged his warring sons ‘not to make his final years a misery’ during an anguishing meeting at Windsor Castle in 2023, but while Charles engaged with his son this week the Prince of Wales refused despite being just a few miles apart at one point.
Harry is in Kyiv as part of his work for the Invictus Games and to support Ukraine’s tens of thousands of injured veterans.
The Duke of Sussex flew to Poland and then caught a train to the Ukrainian capital, arriving on Friday morning.
It is his first visit to Kyiv, which was hit by Russian cruise missiles just two days ago on the same night numerous attack drones from Russia violated Polish airspace and were shot down.
‘I had to check with my wife and the British government to make sure it was OK’, he admitted today.
‘We cannot stop the war but what we can do is do everything we can to help the recovery process’, he said.
‘We can continue to humanise the people involved in this war and what they are going through. We have to keep it in the forefront of people’s minds. I hope this trip will help to bring it home to people because it’s easy to become desensitised to what has been going on.’
Prince Harry visits a makeshift memorial for Ukrainian and foreign soldiers in Kyiv today
The Duke of Sussex visits Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv today
Prince Harry visits a makeshift memorial for Ukrainian and foreign soldiers in Kyiv today
During the Kyiv trip he will head to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, meet hundreds of veterans and also sit down with the Ukrainian prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko.
Prince Harry’s reconciliation meeting with his father this week is viewed as the first step towards his family returning to the UK for a visit next year.
The summit over tea at Clarence House last night could pave the way for Archie and Lilibet to visit their grandfather for the first time in more than three years.
‘The King wants to be a grandfather to his grandchildren so that’s an important pull. He was so pleased when they came over for Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee and he was able to spend some time with them,’ the same royal source told the Daily Mail.
But whether Meghan Markle will want to come with them remains another matter, the insider has said. Meghan hasn’t returned to the UK since the Queen’s death in September 2022.
Charles last saw Archie and Lilibet in June 2022, when Harry and Meghan returned for Queen Elizabeth II‘s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. He has only met Lilibet once and Archie a handful of times.
Harry’s taxpayer-funded security was reduced after he and Meghan quit royal duties – sparking his legal battle with the Home Office – but the Sussexes would likely receive armed bodyguards when visiting the King.
‘There are all sorts of obstacles to that happening again because of Harry’s insistence that they have guaranteed armed police protection. But maybe there is a way of getting them over to Balmoral or Sandringham next year or another royal residence where they are within the security perimeter’, the insider said.
Meghan Markle, 44, and husband Prince Harry, 40, whisked themselves and their children to Disneyland this year – but a UK visit could still be on the cards, a source has said
Harry ‘loved’ being back in the UK and ‘catching up with old friends’ this week, his aide revealed.
Concluding his four-day trip with an event to highlight The Diana Award, yesterday a spokesman for the Duke of Sussex suggested he saw it as a success.
On Wednesday night the prodigal prince managed to secure himself a 54-minute meeting with his father, King Charles – the first in 19 months.
But his choice of final engagement – a charity both he and his estranged brother, Prince William, have been involved with over the years – only served to emphasise the gulf that remains between them.
Tessy Ojo, chief executive of The Diana Award, indicated she didn’t expect a joint engagement from them any time soon, saying: ‘You know what, people are fascinated about seeing them together. I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside them for 25 years and they’ve always done things separately.
‘The one time we brought them together was the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death.’
Harry, she said, has been having meetings on a monthly basis over Zoom with Diana Award staff and has been to events in America. It was one of five events packed into what was dubbed a ‘pseudo royal tour’ for the Prince – and one clearly aimed at trying to reset his relationship with the British people.
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Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex waves as he departs following a visit to the Centre for Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College London this week on his pseudo-royal tour
The icing on the cake, however, was being driven into Clarence House for an almost hour-long meeting with his father. While those in royal circles say it was not a reunion per se, it is being considered a positive step forward.
There is no suggestion of any such thawing in relations with his brother, who had borne the brunt of many of Harry’s most vicious attacks on his family in recent years.
It is not clear whether he has any plans to return to Britain soon.
However, his spokesman strongly suggested he was buoyed by how well he felt this one had gone, saying: ‘He’s obviously loved being back in the UK, catching up with old friends and just generally being able to support the incredible causes that mean so much to him.’
Harry spent around an hour yesterday at what appeared to be a specially created event for him, talking to young people about mental health and social action. In an impromptu speech, he spoke about how young people can feel isolated if ‘lost and separated from a group’.
Harry also gave a warm hug to his father’s former press secretary Colleen Harris, who worked for Charles when he was the Prince of Wales, from 1998 until 2003.
She is now a trustee of the King’s Charitable Fund.
Afterwards the Duke headed straight to the airport and now it has emerged that instead of heading back to Los Angeles, he went to Ukraine instead.
