Henry of England landed at Heathrow Airport in London this Tuesday, February 6, after his father, King Charles III, informed him by telephone that he was suffering from cancer. The Duke of Sussex, accompanied by two police cars – despite his dispute with the Home Office over police protection when visiting the UK with his family – crossed the gates of Clarence House shortly after his arrival and, according to British media, father and son had a brief one Meet. The two have not met since May last year and have not interacted since Queen Elizabeth II's death in September 2022. A few hours after Buckingham Palace announced Charles III's illness on Monday. announced, the prince moved to the airport in Los Angeles (California). ), where he has lived with his family since 2020, without his wife and children, he boarded a plane that left him in the British capital in about 11 hours.
The prince has not spoken to the king in person for more than a year. His trips to the United Kingdom have been punctual and short since the death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8, 2022. His last trip took place in September last year, when a few days later he attended a charity ceremony for the NGO WellChild who did not spend a moment with his father but took the opportunity to visit his grandmother's grave in Windsor. Last June he also set foot on British soil to appear in court after suing the editors of the British newspaper The Mirror for libel. Judge Timothy Fancourt's ruling was published in December 2022 and he ordered the tabloid to pay 160,000 euros in favor of the Duke. According to British media reports, he did not see the monarch at the time either. And as now, all of these trips were made without the company of his wife Meghan Markle and the couple's two children.
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The last meeting took place in May 2023, when Henry traveled from England to London to attend his father's coronation. His visit was very short. He attended the ceremony at Westminster Abbey and immediately flew back to Los Angeles, where his wife Meghan Markle was and his children were not present. According to publications at the time, he did not even visit Buckingham Palace, where his father's first official photographs as King of England were taken, accompanied by other members of the British royal family.
Contacts between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the palace have been timely since the prince published “In the Shadow”, a memoir in which he made violent accusations against his brother – recounting a fight – or against Camilla; Also a documentary on Netflix with his wife, in which they expose the alleged abuses they experienced as active members of the royal family in six chapters. However, Lady Di's son contacted his father by phone in November last year to congratulate the monarch on his 75th birthday. The British media understood the call as a first approach after the media storm that accompanied the biography and documentary, since during the conversation the dukes sang congratulations to the monarch and his two children Archie (4 years old) and Lilibet (4 years old). she said “Happy Birthday” to her paternal grandfather.
The illness was made public after weeks of secrecy about information shared by the palace. It was two weeks ago when the Princess of Wales underwent abdominal surgery, about which little is known and which forced her to cancel her official appointment until at least Easter. A week after the operation, Carlos III was admitted to the same hospital, the London Clinic, to undergo surgery for prostatic hyperplasia, which doctors then diagnosed as benign. During the operation it was discovered that the king had finally suffered from cancer, which he wanted to announce this Monday “to avoid speculation and in the hope that it can help all those suffering from cancer,” as Buckingham said in his statement.
British media such as The Mirror and The Times describe this visit as a possible seed for reconciliation between father and son. However, it is not known whether there will be a rapprochement between the Duke and his brother William, whom he described, among other things, as violent in his memoirs. The Prince of Wales has doubled his calendar of events after learning of the King's illness: this Wednesday he will appear again for the first time after a few days' absence to be at his wife's side.