King Charles's legacy may be imperilled by the ongoing feud between Prince Harry and the rest of the Royal Family, according to a commentator.
The 76-year-old monarch has been at odds with his youngest son since the Duke of Sussex stepped down as a working royal with his wife, Meghan Markle, and moved permanently to the US in 2020.
Five years later, Harry and his father remain apart, with the King’s recent trip to Canada particularly highlighting the divide.
While Charles was in North America opening Parliament in Ottawa, Harry flew across the Pacific for a sustainable travel conference in China.
King Charles’s ‘legacy could be damaged’ amid royal rift with Prince Harry.
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While it seems the father and son’s parallel engagements were coincidental, it painted a symbolic picture of their continued separation.
Journalist and royal author Valentine Low warned that the feud could “potentially damage (Charles’s) legacy” if things are not patched up at some point.
However, he believed Harry’s recent comments in a bombshell BBC interview make Charles’s ability to reach out “even harder”.
The Duke of Sussex claimed that Charles “won’t speak to me,” that he did not know “how much longer my father has” - in reference to the King’s ongoing cancer treatment.
King Charles and Prince Harry last met each other in February 2024.PA“It wasn’t meant to be an attack, but it would be seen as one,” Low said of the interview while speaking to People.
On the possibility of a reconciliation, the commentator believed there was not a “good angel” in the King’s ear convincing him to “be a good dad and make the first move”.
Even still, Low believed the public understood Charles’s predicament, adding that they could: “Separate the private drama from his public role.
“This is a family rift rather than a constitutional rift — it’s what happens to families.
Prince Harry accused the King of passing on "genetic pain" to his children.
Getty“Both sides have to reach a point where they realise they can’t carry on as they are."
The news came it emerged Harry had investigated changing his surname to his mother's maiden name, Spencer.
Such a move would have seen him drop his current family name, Mountbatten-Windsor, shared by King Charles and other members of the Royal Family.
Harry is said to have broached the idea with his uncle, Earl Charles Spencer, during a trip to the UK, who warned him the legal challenges of such a move would be “insurmountable”.
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King Charles and Prince Harry have a strained relationship.
GettyMore than any legal questions, royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams has said King Charles will be greatly wounded by his son’s attempts to change his family name.
"Someone’s family name is a pivotal and public link to the other family members,” he told the Express.
Harry’s desire to drop a name shared by his father and brother, Prince William, among other members of the Royal Family would therefore have been a “clear gesture of enmity”.
The author believed the news would have come as a “deeply hurtful” revelation to Charles.
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