King Charles 'too busy' to see Prince Harry during his London visit

'At this stage it does look like it's a bit of an excuse'

Questions have been raised over whether something new has happened to broaden the rift between Prince Harry and the British Royals after his father, King Charles III, refused a chance to see meet with him.

Harry arrived in London overnight for a three-day visit surrounding his Invictus Games Foundation.

But while insiders say Harry was eager to spend some time with the King following news of his cancer treatment, the British Monarch "doesn't have the time" to see his youngest son since returning to Royal duties last week. 

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"Things certainly may have changed over the last day or so because just before the weekend, people on both sides of the family were telling me they were very confident a meeting would happen," Daily Mirror Associate Editor, Russell Myers told Today.

"I think the relationship is very, very fractured and there's still a lot of water that needs to go under that bridge before the family come together.

"Certainly Harry wants to bring the family to the table, but has something happened in the last day or so? I think potentially, maybe there has been some words, some quarrelling that's gone on, so it's still a pretty sad, sorry state of affairs, unfortunately."

Harry and the King last met in February for what's understood to be an "in and out" very quick 30-minute face-to-face last time the Prince was in the UK.

And while the King has been vocal about wanting to make amends with Harry and his wife Meghan Markle since their move to the US in 2020, it appears as though he is now making excuses not to see him.

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"The King's people have said that he was too busy to see his son, so that tells you a lot about the fractiousness that still exists in this relationship," Russell said.

"At this stage it does look like it's a bit of an excuse because tomorrow he is seeing the British Prime Minister, he has a garden party to attend - however, did he not have just half an hour to see his son?

"Certainly Harry was very, very keen to see his father, he's only here for three days and there's a big Invictus Games anniversary tomorrow at Saint Paul's Cathedral, then he's flying off to Nigeria to meet up with Meghan for a sort of mini tour on Thursday, so it seems as though Harry has been snubbed unfortunately."

Hear what else Russell had to say in the video above