Following the announcement of King Charles’ cancer diagnosis, Prince Harry took a plane to London to be by his side. The Duke got to know about the monarch’s health condition in a private phone conversation earlier this month. However, as per recent reports, staff from Buckingham Palace prevented Harry from going to Sandringham to meet his father.
The Sun revealed that in a frantic attempt to prevent Harry from going to Sandringham, desperate palace officials cut short Harry’s in-person meeting with his father . He had only been in the UK for less than 26 hours when it was revealed that he had been told not to spend the night at Clarence House and to stay at a hotel in London.
An insider told the outlet, “Harry came over to see his father, expecting to go to Sandringham. But instead, he was asked to be at Clarence House and was restricted to 30 minutes. The fear was that if he went to Sandringham they would never get rid of him.” The allegations came to light, days after sources reported that Buckingham Palace had previously ruled out Prince Harry’s alleged desire to return to a professional position in the royal family during Charles’ illness.
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— Good Morning America (@GMA) February 16, 2024
Harry spoke candidly about his family in a TV interview with ABC News only a few days after his return from London, expressing his ambition to visit London once again soon. While seeing the location of the Invictus Games for the next year in Whistler, Harry told Reeve, “I jumped on a plane and went to go see him as soon as I could. Look, I love my family. The fact that I was able to get on a plane and go and see him and spend any time with him, I’m grateful for that.” Harry said that he expects to meet Charles again soon and added, “I’ve got other trips planned that will take me through the U.K., or back to the U.K., and so I’ll stop in and see my family as much as I can.” Harry said, “Yeah, I’m sure,” when asked whether he thought that Charles’ sickness would bring his family closer together, sharing his own observations of the Invictus athletes’ families. He said, “Throughout all of these families, I see it on a day-to-day basis,- again, the strength of the family unit coming together. So, yeah, I think any illness, any sickness, brings families together. I see it time and time again, and that makes me very happy.”
The King had treatment for benign prostate enlargement in late January, and “a separate issue of concern was noted” during this time that was later determined via testing to be cancer, as Buckingham Palace clarified in a statement on February 5. The royal family’s statement reads: “His Majesty has today commenced a schedule of regular treatments, during which time he has been advised by doctors to postpone public-facing duties. Throughout this period, His Majesty will continue to undertake State business and official paperwork as usual.” Stating that “the king is grateful to his medical team for their swift intervention,” the palace said that Charles “remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible.”