Prince Harry is facing renewed criticism from royal experts and former courtiers following a BBC interview in which he addressed his fractured relationship with King Charles III and commented on his father's ongoing cancer treatment. The remarks, delivered days after he lost a Court of Appeal challenge over his U.K. security arrangements, are being described as damaging to any chance of reconciliation with the royal family.
"I have no idea how much longer my father has - he is no longer speaking to me - but it would be nice to reconcile," Harry said in the interview. He added, "Life is precious," and expressed a desire to end the feud with his family. However, his public comments on the King's health and security tensions have raised alarms within palace circles and among royal commentators.
"I think he might now realise that he went too far in talking about his father's health," former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond told The Mirror. "That was a clear invasion of the privacy that Harry himself so covets." She said his remarks came "when the court ruling didn't go his way," and were likely made in a moment of emotional frustration.
Harry's comments came just days after his legal defeat in the U.K. over taxpayer-funded police protection. The Duke of Sussex had challenged the Home Office and the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (RAVEC) over its decision to scale back his security since he stepped down from royal duties in 2020.
Bond acknowledged Harry's frustration, saying, "I do understand Harry's feeling that he has been singled out for special treatment." She noted that other former public figures still receive police protection but emphasized that RAVEC's decision has been tested repeatedly in court and upheld.
In the BBC interview, Harry also suggested he had been "stitched up" by the British establishment and declared that he did not envision bringing his children back to the U.K., further stoking tensions. The BBC later admitted it failed to adequately challenge some of his claims, including the allegation that the legal process was a "stitch-up," and issued a statement acknowledging a "lapse in standards" in its coverage.
Royal experts have responded sharply to the interview, suggesting it further isolates Harry from his family. "He's done so much damage," royal author Robert Jobson said in an appearance on The Sun's Royal Exclusive. "He's criticised the Queen, the King's wife. He's attacked his brother, called his brother a bully, and attacked his brother's wife. And then what does he expect?"
Jobson added that Harry's behavior undermines trust: "The big problem with Harry is that even if there was an attempt at a reconciliation with a private conversation, you can't trust him that those conversations would probably become public."
Royal photographer Arthur Edwards also weighed in, saying Harry missed an opportunity to extend an olive branch. "He didn't say 'look, I probably got that wrong, Dad, and I'm sorry, William.' I mean, what he did, it was pretty treacherous," Edwards said.
Despite Harry's repeated expressions of forgiveness and desire to reconcile, his remarks have not been well received in royal circles. "If he'd have said in that interview 'I'm sorry, Dad, for what I've done,' I think then the King would have probably said, 'Okay, let's have a chat,'" Edwards said.
With public trust eroding and palace sources reportedly stunned by his disclosure of King Charles' condition, Harry's path back to the royal fold appears increasingly uncertain. "He just got it all wrong," Edwards concluded.
