King Charles is said to feel deeply saddened over his lack of relationship with grandchildren Archie and Lilibet, but a move he will “never” make on Prince Harry offers a silver lining.
There have been reports from a board member for the Invictus Games that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s children could make an appearance in 2025, according to writer and broadcaster Esther Krakue.
Meghan Markle has hinted at Archie and Lilibet making their official public debut at the 2025 Invictus Games.
“I’m sure in typical Sussex fashion they will find the best moment to reveal their children to the public and obviously curate their image alongside them,” Ms Krakue told Sky News host Caroline Di Russo.
Ms Krakue said the “biggest losers” in the feud between the Sussexes and the Royal Family have been Harry and Meghan’s children.
“They don’t really know an entire half of their family, and Meghan doesn’t really have much family to speak of other than her mother, and they’re the ones that are being isolated,” she said.
Harry and Meghan’s first-born Prince Archie, five, is understood to have met his grandfather a few times and Princess Lilibet, three, has met the King on just one occasion due to the Sussex’s split from the monarchy.
The couple “stepped back” from royal duties in 2020 and moved to California soon after Archie’s birth, while Lilibet was born in the United States and has never visited the United Kingdom.
King Charles feels “great sadness” over his distant relationship with Prince Harry’s children Archie and Lilibet and has been forced to “never” cut ties with his youngest son to bridge the estrangement. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images.
Speaking to the UK’s Mirror on Sunday, royal author Ingrid Seward said Charles was deeply saddened about being absent from his grandchildren’s lives and it is the reason he will never cut ties with Harry.
“It is a great sadness to him he doesn’t see more of Archie and Lilibet,” she said.
“That is why he will never break ties with Harry. He does not want a FaceTime relationship with his son’s children.”
The commentator said Charles “wants” to know his grandchildren and “be involved in their lives” while they are still young and can “learn from his wisdom”.
She added the King’s cancer diagnosis made the estrangement “all the more poignant” as the monarch knows “he won’t be around forever.”
“Family has always been important to the King. He remembers his own somewhat fragmented childhood as his parents were always busy doing their duty.”
Archie and Lilibet were reportedly set for a family reunion with Charles and Prince William during the Duke of Sussex’s recent trip to London for the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games.
Meghan reportedly snubbed the invite and refused to return to the United Kingdom until she received an apology from the monarch for “mistreatment” during her brief two years inside the firm.
Harry likely inflamed the rift with his tell-all memoir Spare where he lobbed multiple grenades at the royal family.
Yet, Royal insider Jennie Bond believes Meghan and Harry may regret their rift with the monarchy as their children, who are sixth and seventh in line to throne, will grow up hardly knowing or remembering their royal ties.
“Children grow up and are innately curious about their heritage and background,” she told OK magazine last week.
“When your heritage is one of the most famous families in the world, it will undoubtedly seem rather odd and perhaps sad that you hardly know or remember them.
“Imagine Archie, aged 15, telling his friends, ‘My grandpa is/was King! And my Uncle is/will be King too.’”
Archie and Lilibet effectively have no relationships with either of their grandfathers with only have one grandparent in their lives – Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland.
Meghan’s estranged father Thomas Markle has reportedly never met his grandkids or son-in-law Prince Harry after he sold stories about his world-famous daughter to the tabloids ahead of her wedding in 2018.