Prince Harry Quotes About Prince Charles Relationship: Photos
Another strained relationship in the royal family. Prince Harry has kept details about his father, Prince Charles, relatively to himself through the years, but after his and wife Meghan Markle’s exit in 2020, the Duke of Sussex got real about tension with his dad.
Over the years, Harry publicly applauded Charles for his parenting skills — from the way he stepped up after the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in August 1997 to his willingness to walk Meghan down the aisle at their May 2018 wedding. However, things shifted between the father-son duo when the couple announced in January 2020 that they were stepping back from their roles as senior members of the royal family.
A source told Us Weekly at the time that the Prince of Wales was “livid” with his youngest son and blamed the former actress for the decision to distance themselves from the monarchy.
The pair completed their royal duties in March 2020 and relocated to her native California with their son, Archie. They kept mum about their departure for more than a year before sitting down for a CBS tell-all interview in March 2021. While Charles did nothing but laugh when asked about Harry’s bombshell claims, including that his father stopped talking to him after he and Meghan shared their plans to step down, Harry’s willingness to go on the record only further fractured their relationship.
“Charles does not agree with Harry trashing his whole family in public,” an insider revealed in March 2021. “Charles thinks these matters could have easily been addressed in private.”
Charles and his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, “had very different plans for how to respond” to the allegations, with the prince wanting “to rebuke every claim made by Meghan and Harry,” according to a source. The monarch ultimately preferred to “take a more modest approach.”
Harry and Charles reunited in April 2021 for Prince Philip’s funeral, but they did not reconnect in a meaningful way. “Unfortunately, Harry and Charles didn’t resolve their differences when Harry returned to the U.K. They barely communicated,” an insider told Us at the time. “There definitely continues to be a huge wedge between the two.”
The source added that Charles was “still fuming” over the tell-all and “freezing Harry out,” while Harry had not “forgiven his father for his lack of effort and support after he and Meghan decided to move.” Another insider revealed in May 2021 that Charles “may never forgive Harry.”
Harry made headlines later that month for criticizing Charles’ parenting more than once. “Charles is boiling with anger and feels tortured by Harry with his constant digs. He wishes he’d just let it drop,” a source told Us. “The general consensus within the royal family is to ignore Harry’s behavior, to avoid fanning the flames, but Charles is finding it hard to hold back. He really wants to defend himself.”
Charles assumed the British throne in September 2022 following his mother’s death at age 96 — and he gave his youngest son a small shout-out during his first address as monarch. “I want also to express my love for Harry and Meghan, as they continue to build their lives overseas,” he told viewers in the U.K. and its Commonwealth territories.
Scroll through the gallery below to see Harry’s most eye-opening quotes about his relationship with Charles through the years.
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Prince Harry’s Most Illuminating Quotes About His Relationship With King Charles III
Another strained relationship in the royal family. Prince Harry has kept details about his father, Prince Charles, relatively to himself through the years, but after his and wife Meghan Markle’s exit in 2020, the Duke of Sussex got real about tension with his dad.
Over the years, Harry publicly applauded Charles for his parenting skills — from the way he stepped up after the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in August 1997 to his willingness to walk Meghan down the aisle at their May 2018 wedding. However, things shifted between the father-son duo when the couple announced in January 2020 that they were stepping back from their roles as senior members of the royal family.
A source told Us Weekly at the time that the Prince of Wales was “livid” with his youngest son and blamed the former actress for the decision to distance themselves from the monarchy.
The pair completed their royal duties in March 2020 and relocated to her native California with their son, Archie. They kept mum about their departure for more than a year before sitting down for a CBS tell-all interview in March 2021. While Charles did nothing but laugh when asked about Harry’s bombshell claims, including that his father stopped talking to him after he and Meghan shared their plans to step down, Harry’s willingness to go on the record only further fractured their relationship.
“Charles does not agree with Harry trashing his whole family in public,” an insider revealed in March 2021. “Charles thinks these matters could have easily been addressed in private.”
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Charles and his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, “had very different plans for how to respond” to the allegations, with the prince wanting “to rebuke every claim made by Meghan and Harry,” according to a source. The monarch ultimately preferred to “take a more modest approach.”
Harry and Charles reunited in April 2021 for Prince Philip’s funeral, but they did not reconnect in a meaningful way. “Unfortunately, Harry and Charles didn’t resolve their differences when Harry returned to the U.K. They barely communicated,” an insider told Us at the time. “There definitely continues to be a huge wedge between the two.”
The source added that Charles was “still fuming” over the tell-all and “freezing Harry out,” while Harry had not “forgiven his father for his lack of effort and support after he and Meghan decided to move.” Another insider revealed in May 2021 that Charles “may never forgive Harry.”
Harry made headlines later that month for criticizing Charles’ parenting more than once. “Charles is boiling with anger and feels tortured by Harry with his constant digs. He wishes he’d just let it drop,” a source told Us. “The general consensus within the royal family is to ignore Harry’s behavior, to avoid fanning the flames, but Charles is finding it hard to hold back. He really wants to defend himself.”
Charles assumed the British throne in September 2022 following his mother’s death at age 96 — and he gave his youngest son a small shout-out during his first address as monarch. “I want also to express my love for Harry and Meghan, as they continue to build their lives overseas,” he told viewers in the U.K. and its Commonwealth territories.
Scroll through the gallery below to see Harry’s most eye-opening quotes about his relationship with Charles through the years.
Credit: Lord Snowdon/Shutterstock
Divorce Distance
Harry opened up about how he and Prince William struggled with their parents’ 1992 separation in the 2017 documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy. “There was a point where our parents split and … we never saw our mother enough or we never saw our father enough,” he recalled. “There was a lot of traveling and lot of fights on the back seat with my brother — which I would win. … It was an interesting way of growing up.” Charles and Diana eventually divorced in 1996.
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Making an Effort
Charles informed his sons of their mother’s death following a car accident, which Harry commended. “One of the hardest things for a parent to have to do is to tell your children that your other parent has died,” Harry said in the 2017 documentary Diana, 7 Days. “How you deal with that, I don’t know.”
Harry then praised his father for handling his role as a single parent: “[Our dad] was there for us — he was the one out of two left, and he tried to do his best and to make sure that we were protected and looked after. But he was going through the same grieving process as well.”
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The Wedding March
Charles walked Meghan down the aisle at her wedding to Harry after her father, Thomas Markle, chose not to attend. “I asked him to and I think he knew it was coming and he immediately said, ‘Yes, of course, I’ll do whatever Meghan needs, and I’m here to support you,’” Harry revealed in the 2018 documentary Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70. “For him, that’s a fantastic opportunity to step up and be that support, and, you know, he’s our father so of course he’s gonna be there for us.”
Harry also spoke highly of his father’s nature after the heartwarming gesture. “It’s the things he does behind the scenes that people don’t know about,” he explained. “I don’t think people realize quite how kind he is.”
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Out of Touch
Harry claimed in his March 2021 tell-all that Charles “stopped taking my calls” after his and Meghan’s 2020 royal exit, noting that “there’s a lot to work through” with his dad. “I feel really let down because he’s been through something similar, he knows what pain feels like. … Archie is his grandson,” he said. “I will always love him. There’s a lot of hurt that’s happened. I will continue to make it one of my priorities to heal that relationship.”
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Stuck
Elsewhere in the CBS interview, Harry expressed his opinions about his father and William’s places within the monarchy. “My father and my brother, they are trapped,” he said. “They don’t get to leave. And I have huge compassion for that.”
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Parenting Plan
Harry revealed in May 2021 that he wants to raise his children differently than Charles raised him. “Isn’t life about breaking the cycle?” he noted on the “Armchair Expert” podcast. “There’s no blame. I don’t think anyone should be pointing the finger and blaming anyone. Certainly, when it comes to parenting, if I’ve experienced some form of pain and suffering because of the pain and suffering that perhaps my father or parents suffered, I’m gonna make sure I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on.”
He elaborated that his “awareness” of Charles’ upbringing helped him with the process. “Suddenly, I started to piece it all together,” he said. “OK, so this is where he went to school. I know this about his life. I also know that it’s connected to his parents, so that means that he’s treating me the way that he was treated, which means how can we change that for my kids? Here I am. I now moved my whole family to the U.S. That wasn’t the plan. But sometimes you’ve got to make decisions and put your family first and mental health first.”
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Dredging Up the Past
Harry accused Charles of not protecting him and William during their childhood in his Apple TV+ series, The Me You Can’t See, which debuted in May 2021. “My father used to say to me when I was younger, he used to say to William and I, ‘Well, it was like that for me, so it’s gonna be like that for you.’ That doesn’t make sense,” he said. “Just because you suffered, it doesn’t mean that your kids have to suffer. In fact, quite the opposite. If you suffered, do everything you can to make sure that whatever experiences, negative experiences that you had, you can make it right for your kids.”
Credit: Netflix
Before the Exit
During an episode of Netflix’s Harry & Meghan, which premiered in December 2022, Harry recalled a tense meeting with his father and brother as the royals attempted to negotiate the terms of the Sussexes’ step down. “It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me, and my father say things that just simply weren’t true, and my grandmother quietly sit there, and sort of take it all in,” he claimed, adding that “the saddest part” of his departure from his senior duties was “the wedge” it drove between him and his family.
In the final episode, Harry said it’s been “hard” to communicate with Charles since the drama ensued. “I’ve had to make peace with the fact that we’re probably never gonna get genuine accountability or a genuine apology. My wife and I, we’re moving on. We’re focused on what’s coming next,” he noted.
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Where They Stand
Harry opened up about his family’s tension as he prepared for the release of his January 2023 memoir, Spare. “I want a family, not an institution. … They’ve shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile,” he claimed in a clip from a sit-down with the U.K.’s ITV. “I would like to get my father back. I would like to have my brother back.”
He added: “It never needed to be this way. The leaking and the planting … They feel as though it’s better to keep [me and Meghan], somehow, as the villains.”
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Begging for a Reconciliation
When Harry returned to England for grandfather Philip’s funeral in April 2021, he spoke with William and Charles about their rift, which got heated.
“I’d vowed not to let this encounter devolve into another argument,” Harry wrote in Spare, which was published in 2023, recalling an argument with Charles and William in April 2021. “But I quickly discovered that it wasn’t up to me. Pa and Willy had their parts to play, and they’d come ready for a fight.”
He added: “It got so heated that Pa raised his hands. ‘Enough!’ He stood between us, looking up at our flushed faces: ‘Please, boys — don’t make my final years a misery.’”
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A Family ‘Duel’
Harry further likened his argument with his father and brother after Philip’s funeral to a “duel.” He explained: “I tried to explain my side of things. I wasn’t at my best. For starters. I was still nervous, fighting to keep my emotions in check, while also striving to be succinct and precise.”
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Charles’ Coronation Plans
While promoting Spare, Harry was asked in an ITV interview if he would attend his father’s official coronation. “There’s a lot that can happen between now and then,” he said. “But, you know, the door is always open. The ball is in their court. There’s a lot to be discussed and I really hope that they are willing to sit down and talk about it.”
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Paternity Jokes
Harry revealed in Spare that his “Pa” enjoyed telling stories, even alleging that Charles once joked about not being Harry’s “real father.” The duke wrote: “He’d laugh and laugh, though it was a remarkably unfunny joke, given the rumor circulating just then that my actual father was one of Mummy’s former lovers: Major James Hewitt.”
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Potential Reunion?
While promoting Spare, Harry discussed his royal life in a tell-all interview with ITV. In a January 2023 teaser, the duke emotionally revealed that he “would like to get my father back” and “would like to have my brother back.” Harry further alleged that Charles and William have shown no signs of reconciling.
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A Big Ask
In his memoir, Spare, Harry revealed that he and William asked the future king not to marry Camilla ahead of their 2005 nuptials. “We didn’t think it was necessary,” Harry explained during an interview with 60 Minutes in January 2023. “We thought that it was gonna cause more harm than good and that if he was now with his person, that — surely that’s enough. Why go that far when you don’t necessarily need to? We wanted him to be happy. And we saw how happy he was with her.”
He later explained that he hoped to have a relationship with his father again, though they hadn’t spoken in some time. “I really look forward to having that family element back,” Harry said. “I look forward to having a relationship with my brother. I look forward to having a relationship with my father and other members of my family.”
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