Fifty-four minutes – and one cup of tea. Not enough to erase almost six years of hurt, not to mention tens of thousands of words of vitriol.
But it was, say insiders, the first tentative step on the road to reconciliation – at least between father and son.
Last night’s meeting between King Charles and Prince Harry was their first for 19 months, and lasted almost twice as long as their last.
Many people are likely to wonder why the 76-year-old king chose to meet with his estranged son, whom he hasn’t communicated with for several months, given the deeply hurtful remarks he has made about him and the rest of the Royal Family.
Some strongly feel they can never forgive Harry for his actions, especially concerning the late Queen during her final years. However, the King is fundamentally a Christian and, despite being cautious, the prince is still his son, his own flesh and blood.
There is a long road ahead, no doubt, but the lines of communication are for now, tentatively, open.
His Majesty was the first to arrive back at Clarence House in London at 4pm, having flown down from Balmoral on an air force jet to RAF Northolt.
He wasn’t shortening his stay in Scotland for a meeting with his son, as some reports have claimed. In reality, as disclosed by the Mail earlier this week, he had to return to the capital for several audiences, which were aligned with his usual cancer treatment trips over the summer break.
Prince Harry is all smiles as he meets with corporate sponsors and government ministers at a reception for the Invictus Games
Prince Harry speaks with Al Carns Minister for the UK Armed Forces (L) & Ruslan Prykhodko, Deputy Minister of Ukrainian Veterans Affairs
The Duke of Sussex speaks to attendees of the inaugural Invictus Horizons reception event in central London
Shortly after arriving, at 4.15 pm, he bestowed an MBE on Holocaust campaigner Manfred Goldberg, an honor he was eager to present personally.
The two have forged a bond of warmth and respect after Mr Goldberg featured in His Majesty’s Holocaust survivors project.
Harry, now 40, arrived at 5.20 pm, entered through the gates of what was once his home, accompanied by two U.S. bodyguards, looking thoughtful.
Afterwards Buckingham Palace confirmed that His Majesty had a ‘private tea at Clarence House with the Duke of Sussex’.
They made it clear that no further comment whatsoever would be made around the meeting, or what was discussed.
Shortly afterwards a spokesman for Harry confirmed the meeting had taken place in an identically-worded statement.
The prince was spotted leaving again at 6.14 pm, appearing similarly reserved. It’s thought that the meeting had been arranged at a relatively late hour.
It was earlier announced in the day that Harry was due at a reception for his Invictus Games organisation at 6pm. Organisers later pushed that back to 6.45pm, suggesting a 45-minute gap to meet the King had suddenly been added to his diary.
Prince Harry arrives at Clarence House, London, after his father King Charles
The Duke of Sussex is seen leaving the royal residence 54 minutes later
And on an engagement earlier in the day at Imperial College London’s Centre for Blast Injury Studies, several miles away from Clarence House in White City, west London, a previously relaxed-looking Harry had raced anxiously out of the building at 3pm, barely stopping to talk to waiting well-wishers, and telling one: ‘I have to go, I’m so late.’
The Mail understands that the King will return to Balmoral today before heading back to London early next week for the Duchess of Kent’s funeral and President Trump’s State Visit.
Meanwhile due to particularly heavy London traffic as a result of a London Underground strikes –and the fact that he no longer gets a ‘blues and twos’ police escort – Harry didn’t arrive at his reception until 7. 24pm.
Asked how the King was, at the reception, Harry said: ‘Yes he’s great, thank you.’
Back in February last year there was so much distrust that Buckingham Palace felt they could not even tell the prince the news that his father had been diagnosed with cancer until it was formally announced to the public.
Harry immediately insisted – against the King’s wishes, it has to be said – jumping on a transatlantic flight back to London.
Exhausted Charles, who had been due to fly to Sandringham to recuperate from his diagnosis and initial treatment, reluctantly agreed to see him in the circumstances as his helicopter waited to take off, with the meeting lasting little more than half an hour.
There is no doubt, according to those in royals circles, that Charles has been deeply hurt by his younger son’s behaviour in recent years: the acrimonious departure from royal life, the multiple tell-all documentaries and interviews – not to mention his memoir, Spare – all of which he used to attack his family with an unprecedented, and at times inexplicable, level of viciousness.
King Charles arrives at Clarence House, in London, ahead of a meeting with his son Harry
King Charles III arrives at Clarence House in London today following his arrival at RAF Northolt
The King met with Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg (right) to invest him with an MBE
He has also been wary of even speaking to Harry at arm’s length because of his habit of reporting intimate, private conversations.
This has been complicated by the fifth in line to the throne’s pursuit of His Majesty’s government through the British courts over the withdrawal of his taxpayer-funded Metropolitan Police security.
After conclusively losing that case in April this year, Harry lashed out yet again, blaming it on an ‘Establishment stitch-up’ and claiming – rightly in the circumstances – that it was one of the reasons his father no longer spoke to him.
Now that the case has concluded and Harry’s has finally admitted defeat, he is on safer ground.
The fact that he flew to the UK this week for four days of official engagements provided a natural opportunity for him to meet his father, should the King be able to.
The situation is, understandably, far more complicated with his brother, Prince William, who has borne much of the brunt of his vitriol, particularly in Spare. The two haven’t spoken now for several years and it seems no sign of there being a similar thaw.
Yesterday the future king was on an engagement in Cardiff where he marked World Suicide Prevention Day and visited a new mental health hub being set up in Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
Meanwhile, royal watchers will no doubt be waiting to see if Harry keeps quiet and refrains from publicly discussing his reunion with the King.
