There has been so much written about the rift between the King and Prince Harry that it is easy to forget what lies beneath the headlines, the constitutional debate, the television interviews, the memoirs and the endless speculation. Here is an elderly father, an estranged son and, perhaps most poignantly of all, a grandfather who has spent far too little time with his grandchildren.
Reports that Charles has been belatedly reunited with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet during Harry’s recent visit were, for me at least, genuinely heartening. Who outside those directly involved could possibly know if this signals the end of years of family tension? But, it suggests that, despite everything, the door has not been completely closed. That matters.
Charles is not just a monarch navigating constitutional responsibilities. He is a 77-year-old man who has spent the past two years undergoing treatment for cancer while continuing to carry out public duties. Whatever the prognosis, a diagnosis like that changes the way anyone looks at life. It sharpens your priorities. Inevitably, tomorrow suddenly feels less guaranteed than it did yesterday. Meetings, commitments and old grievances lose their importance. You stop thinking so much about what you have accumulated and start thinking about the memories you still have time to make.
