Inside Prince Harry’s 30-Minute Visit to King Charles After His Cancer Diagnosis: ‘PR Stunt’

He must have spent more time going through security at the airport. On February 6, Prince Harry flew over 5,000 miles from California to London after King Charles announced his cancer diagnosis.

But Harry only got to meet with his father for less than 30 minutes before heading home the next day. “The fact that I was able to spend any time with him,” Harry later downplayed in an interview during a visit to Canada, “I’m grateful for that.”

In reality, a source exclusively tells In Touch, it was a huge blow to Harry. “He was actually prepared to step in and temporarily resume his official duties in light of his father’s illness,” says the source. But Charles, William and Camilla “quickly shut that down. They don’t trust his motives anymore. It wouldn’t be surprising if he was using his visit as a PR stunt to boost his public image, so it was made clear to Harry that he won’t be let back into the inner circle again.”

Keeping It Brief

Or even into their inner sanctums. Harry wanted to see his father at Sandringham, the monarch’s Norfolk estate, but palace aides — reportedly “fearful they’d never get rid of him” — nixed the idea. Instead, he was restricted to Clarence House in London, says the source, noting that after all of the private discussions Harry, 39, has revealed, both in his tell-all, Spare, and in interviews, “royal aides can’t be blamed for worrying about what he’d report from his visit.”

The king slotted only 30 minutes of his time. “It was hardly a heart-to-heart,” says the source, “even though they hadn’t had one-on-one time in about two years.” It didn’t help that Harry also reportedly refused to be in the same room as his stepmother, whom he called “dangerous” in Spare.

“As olive branches go, it’s a massive opportunity missed by the Prince of Petulance,” the queen’s friend Petronella Wyatt later wrote in The Telegraph. And while Charles “still loves his son,” says the source, “the visit fell flat.”

Minutes after they said goodbye, Charles, 75, and Camilla, 76, headed to Sandringham, and Harry spent the night in a hotel instead of a palace or a castle. Needless to say, he won’t be filling in at any official appearances.

“William has made sure of that,” says the source, noting that as Charles deals with his cancer treatment, the heir to the throne has taken on a lot more responsibilities.

The Prince of Wales, 41, “will have complete control of the family soon. And William is even more adamant than Charles that Harry never be allowed back into the fold.”

It appears Harry may have gotten the message. In the same interview in which he spoke about his meeting with his father, the prince admitted he’s considered obtaining U.S. citizenship.

“That means he’d have to renounce the king,” says the source. And even though Harry vaguely mentioned plans of future visits to his family, “they will likely all go the same as this one. He’s officially an outsider now.”