RICHARD KAY: The very telling reason why Harry and the Royal Family’s relationship is more broken than ever

Of course, it’s convenient to blame everything on a busy schedule. And at first glance, the king was very busy yesterday.

From Windsor Castle, where he had spent the Bank Holiday, he had an audience with the Prime Minister of Fiji at Buckingham Palace, followed by a meeting with senior military commanders, and then medical appointments related to his ongoing cancer treatment, the latter of which are being monitored by an obligation to rest.

Today promises more of the same, including a palace garden party and his regular weekly chat with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who may need more comfort than usual after last week’s thrashing for the Tories in the local elections.

What there was absolutely no time for during all this coming and going was a nice get-together with his youngest son. Prince Harry’s arrival in Britain had led to speculation that father and son would meet.

Some had even boldly suggested that such a meeting could finally initiate a process of reconciliation between the King and Harry. There were even murmurs about extending an olive branch.

Instead, the wrenching excuses of ‘full diaries’ offer a different and, for Harry, a more ominous message. Unlike that dramatic flying visit in February, which saw the Prince meet for less than 30 minutes just after Charles’ cancer diagnosis was made public, the palace gates remained firmly closed.

It was emphatically the Duke of Sussex’s team that broke cover, with a spokesperson explaining that a meeting ‘sadly will not be possible due to His Majesty’s full schedule’.

Even with the acknowledgment that Harry recognized his father’s “obligations and various other priorities,” the nuance in the bulletin was clear: the failure to keep the appointment was not Harry’s fault. So much for the olive branches.

Prince Harry’s arrival in Britain for the Invictus Games Foundation talk had sparked speculation that father and son would meet

So what is going on, and what do events tell us about the state of affairs between the exiled Harry, his father and the rest of the royal family?

One conclusion might indicate that, far from his hope for reunion with his father in the wake of the king’s cancer diagnosis, the illness at least contributed to their estrangement.

But in fact I understand that there has been no formal request from the king or his son to schedule a meeting. Harry also had a packed programme. From his overnight flight from Los Angeles, he was taken to an event for the Invictus Games, his project for wounded and former armed forces personnel, at Armory House in east London.

Although he was only three miles from Buckingham Palace, he might as well have been on another continent when it came to meeting his family.

Charles met with Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka yesterday while Harry arrived in Britain

And today, while the King hosts the first garden party of the year, the Prince will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the games with a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral. If Harry was so eager to see his father, it’s tempting to wonder why he hadn’t flown over a day or two earlier when Charles had no official duties. How significant that would have been if they had been together on the first anniversary of the king’s coronation. Unfortunately, that fell on Prince Archie’s fifth birthday and Harry opted to spend it with his family in California.

At one time, Harry’s return visits to Britain made it relatively easy for him to visit his father, but he is no longer in royal residence. And, intriguingly, he made no request to stay at a royal residence during this two-night visit.

This alone indicates that the chances of rapprochement are smaller than ever. Trust has also evaporated in the 16 months since Harry’s explosive memoir Spare, with its outraged attacks on Camilla, William and Kate.

Harry speaks on stage with Sir Keith Mills to mark ten years since the first Invictus Games in London 2014

The two men once shared a special bond, but every meeting between them was distracted by the weight of past disappointments.

Some old friends were surprised that a king who naturally practices humility and empathy given his Christian faith could not find time to see his son. Others argued that certainly no blame could be attributed to Charles if he viewed such encounters with his son as a burden rather than a pleasure.

What is certain is that despite that busy workload, two figures would have found the prospect of a meeting between the king and Harry deeply unsettling: Queen Camilla, who was injured by Harry’s devastating attacks, and Prince William, who is unwilling to forgive his brother for his actions. comments about Kate.

Last month, historian Tessa Dunlop suggested Harry was in a “sore place” following the Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnosis and William’s comments.

“The opposition of Camilla and William would be formidable for Charles,” says one courtier. ‘For all his affection for Harry – who still exists – and sadness over the deep rift that has opened, his bonds with his wife and eldest son are much deeper.’

Perhaps the most telling observation about the fractured relationship between Harry and the royals came in yesterday, not off-the-record briefings, but the publication of a future joint engagement between the king and his son – the other.

This Monday, Charles will formally hand over the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps to Prince William in a colorful ceremony.

Harry, of course, enjoyed a distinguished career in the Army’s combat aviation branch and served with considerable courage as a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan. However, this passing of the baton speaks more eloquently of a united family. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to see Harry fit in ever again.