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Why King Charles and Prince Harry Are No Longer Speaking: ‘Harry Is Frightened’
Prince Harry‘s estrangement from his father, King Charles III, only continues to deepen! Despite reuniting and appearing to be on good terms after the monarch’s cancer diagnosis in February, their relationship has further deteriorated, with Harry’s calls to his father now going ‘unanswered.’
Harry, 39, traveled to the United Kingdom in May to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games. At the time, Charles, 75, was thought to have skipped out on Harry’s rare visit due to his busy schedule.
However, sources informed PEOPLE on Wednesday, July 31, that Harry aimed to use the visit to discuss his ongoing battle for security with his father. The automatic right to U.K. police security was removed by the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (RAVEC) in 2020 after he and his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped down as senior royals.
Harry believes his father has the power to reinstate the security but their communication has since worsened, with insiders dishing that Charles no longer responds to Harry’s calls or letters.
“He gets ‘unavailable right now,’” a source close to Harry told the outlet. “He has tried to reach out about the King’s health, but those calls go unanswered too.”
Harry challenged the committee’s decision in a December 2023 hearing, stating that he felt “forced to step back” from the royal family due to safety concerns of his wife, 42, and children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
“Harry is frightened and feels the only person who can do anything about it is his father,” another source told the outlet, with an additional insider adding, “Harry is determined to protect his own family at all costs.”
Although the duke offered to cover the costs of security, his proposal was rejected. High Court judge Peter Lane upheld the U.K. government’s decision to downgrade security in February.
Harry got candid about his concerns for his family, opening up during an interview for the ITV documentary Tabloids on Trial and revealed he has no plans for his wife to return to the U.K. anytime soon.
“It’s still dangerous, and all it takes is one lone actor, one person who reads this stuff to act on what they have read,” Harry said on July 25. “And whether it’s a knife or acid, whatever it is, and these are things that are of genuine concern for me. It’s one of the reasons why I won’t bring my wife back to this country.”
After stepping down from their positions as senior royals, Harry and Meghan moved to California with their son Archie, 5, in 2020. One year later, the couple welcomed daughter Lilibet, 3, in 2021.
Neil Basu, the former head of counterterrorism for the Metropolitan Police, confirmed in 2022 that Meghan faced genuine threats against her life while she lived in the U.K.
“We had teams investigating it. People have been prosecuted for those threats,” the security professional said in an interview with Channel 4 News. “If you’d seen the stuff that was written and you were receiving it … the kind of rhetoric that’s online, if you don’t know what I know, you would feel under threat all of the time.”
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