King Charles offers SECOND snub to Prince Harry hours after ruling out meeting him because he was ‘too busy’

May 7, 2024 Vaseline stjohnson 0

KING Charles ruled out a face-to-face meeting with Harry, saying he was too busy.

Hours later, in a second snub, the King revealed that his eldest son William will take over Harry’s former helicopter regiment next week.

King Charles has ruled out a face-to-face meeting with Harry during his son’s three-day visit to the UK.Credit: LNP
Hours later, the King also revealed that his eldest son William will take over Harry’s former helicopter regiment next week.Credit: PA
Prince Harry with a drummer at the Honorable Artillery Company in LondonCredit: Getty

Harry, 39, was looking forward to seeing his father after flying from California, but his spokesperson said: “Unfortunately it will not be possible due to Her Majesty’s full schedule.”

Harry flew in to attend the events marking ten years of his Invictus Games, as the King greeted the Prime Minister of Fiji at Buckingham Palace.

Two hours later, the King revealed that next Monday he will attend a ceremony to confirm William, 41, as colonel-in-chief of the Army Air Corps, Harry’s former regiment.

The event will take place in front of an Apache, the type of helicopter Harry flew when he served in Afghanistan.

William, who flew with the air ambulance, will also fly in the helicopter.

A source told The Sun: “Timing is everything.”

Sources claim Harry made multiple attempts to arrange a meeting with his father before flying 5,000 miles over three days in the UK.

At 9.30am, Charles, 75, was photographed leaving Windsor Castle in the State Bentley and reading government documents in the back seat.

Around the same time, Harry landed without Meghan or their two children.

He was taken to the headquarters of the Honorable Artillery Company at the Barbican for a discussion about the Invictus Games. He was photographed smiling as he left shortly after 6 p.m.

Prince Harry dons military medals at his sunny Montecito mansion to reward a soldier despite being stripped of his titles.

Earlier in the day, the King spoke to Fiji’s Sitiveni Rabuka at the Palace.

At 2 p.m., the Office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced that Harry would not be meeting his father.

The spokesperson said: “In response to numerous inquiries and continued speculation as to whether or not the Duke will meet his father while in the UK this week, unfortunately this will not be possible due to Her Majesty’s full schedule.

“The Duke, of course, understands his father’s diary of engagements and other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”

The Duke, of course, understands his father’s diary of engagements and other priorities and hopes to see him soon.

Spokesman

Buckingham Palace declined to comment or respond.

Shortly afterwards, the Palace announced the date on which William would take charge of the Army Air Corps, to which Harry was attached for his second tour of Afghanistan until 2014.

William’s role was announced in August.

It was confirmed yesterday that the ceremony will take place next Monday at the Army Aviation Center in Middle Wallop, Hants.

The King will walk to the control tower and officially pass on to William the role of Colonel-in-Chief, which he held for 31 years.

Harry flew from California for the events marking ten years of his Invictus GamesCredit: Getty
Meanwhile, the King greeted the Prime Minister of Fiji at Buckingham PalaceCredit: Getty
Sources claim Harry made multiple attempts to arrange a meeting with his father before flying 5,000 miles over three days in the UK.Credit: Getty

Harry and the King can’t play happy families with so much public attention, says The Sun’s Matt Wilkinson

By Matt Wilkinson, Royal Editor

Prince Harry is in London but will not meet his father, the King.

The Duke of Sussex arrived from Los Angeles alone, without Meghan or their children, for a busy schedule of events marking 10 years of his Invictus Games.

Before leaving California, Harry is understood to have been “interested” in seeing the King for only the second time since his cancer diagnosis.

It is quite telling that the confirmation that there will be no meeting comes from the Office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and not Buckingham Palace.

His team says it will “unfortunately not be possible due to Her Majesty’s full schedule.”

They add: “The Duke, of course, understands his father’s diary of engagements and other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”

Now, the word that jumps out is “priorities.”

We understand that the King is busy returning to his public duties.

For example, on Tuesday, while Harry was in London, the King was carrying out his constitutional duty and meeting the Prime Minister of Fiji at the palace.

He is also planning to host a palace garden party and a weekly audience with the Prime Minister on Wednesday.

And Harry’s diary is filled for three days with Invictus. However, sometimes they will be just two miles away and risk even overtaking you on London roads.

Some observers may consider it “sad” that father and son can’t find time.

Others may say it’s understandable since they both have work commitments and “priorities.”

But perhaps too much water has passed under the bridge for father and son to play the role of happy families amid so much public attention.

The Prince of Wales will then receive a briefing on the work of the Corps from Colonel Commandant, Lieutenant General Sir Nicholas Borton.

‘Private meetings’

William will watch a training drill and take the controls of the Apache for a flight.

Today, Charles and Harry will be two miles apart as the Duke attends a celebration of the Invictus Games at St Paul’s Cathedral from 5pm.

Charles is expected to host the first garden party of the year at Buckingham Palace from 4 p.m.

He also has his weekly audience with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The couple’s diaries also do not line up tomorrow when Harry has “private meetings” and it is understood that the King has an engagement in Windsor.

At the end of the week, Harry, who is said to be staying in a hotel, will join his wife Meghan for a trip to Nigeria.

Meanwhile, William will be in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly on Thursday and Friday.

Harry passed his Army Air Corps qualification and Pilot Selection Board interview in December 2008 to begin pilot training in January 2009.

On his first tour of Afghanistan in 2008, he called for airstrikes against Taliban positions.

He later qualified as an Apache commander in 2012 after three years of training.

He then served a five-month tour in Afghanistan where he piloted an Apache.

Time is everything

Well-informed person

Harry wrote glowingly of the helicopter in his memoirs Spare, saying: “What a privilege, I thought, to experience this kind of raw power and put it to work for our side.”

But he sparked outrage when he revealed he had killed 25 enemy fighters, writing: “I didn’t think of those 25 as people.

“They were chess pieces removed from the board.

“The bad people are eliminated before they could kill the good people.”

In January, Harry was honored in Los Angeles at the 21st annual Living Legends of Aviation Awards alongside John Travolta.

William served in the army as a platoon commander in The Blues and Royals, before completing his flight training in the Royal Air Force.

Read more about the Irish sun

He spent three years as an RAF search and rescue pilot in Anglesey, North Wales, before working as an air ambulance pilot in East Anglia for two years.

He has remained in the cockpit to maintain his piloting hours and preserve his license.

Charles and Harry will be two miles apart todayCredit: Getty
Charles will host the first garden party of the year at Buckingham Palace today from 4pmCredit: Daniel Jones – The Sun
Harry was taken to the headquarters of the Honorable Artillery Company in Shoreditch today.Credit: Alamy