Why King Charles refuses to answer Prince Harry’s calls or respond to attempts to reach out

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David Johns
The Nightly
Prince Harry and King Charles in happier times.
Prince Harry and King Charles in happier times. Credit: Getty Images/Getty Images

King Charles III has reportedly held back from answering his estranged son Prince Harry’s messages because he is trying to keep his “stress levels down” amid his cancer battle.

Daily Mail contributor Robert Hardman, the author of The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy told Fox News Digital that the King has been urged not to answer his young son’s messages.

“I know people keep saying, ‘Why doesn’t he see Harry when he is in town? Why can’t they patch things up?’,” he said.

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“But right now, there is a sense that we’ve just got to keep the king’s stress levels down.

“We don’t want him to have extra things to worry about. Let’s get through this… There is a sense that now is probably not the time.”

Hardman went on to say that there was a “lot to unpack” in the things Harry had said about his relationship with his father publicly.

“There are a lot of things he wants to get sorted out to go through to process,” Hardman said.

“Right now, there’s a sense that it’s not the time. But I’m sure the king would like to normalise things.”

The 75-year-old monarch revealed in February that he had been diagnosed with cancer following prostate surgery.

The undisclosed form of the disease has required weekly treatments ever since.

King Charles put those treatments on hold for his recent tour of Australia, with royal observers at the time saying it underlined the desperate lengths the monarch was willing to go to in order to keep the monarchy together.

Prince Harry arrived along for Charles’ coronation ceremony in May 2023, with Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, opting to stay home with their two children.

Harry was seated two rows behind his older brother William, the next in line to the throne, during the ceremony.

Since then, he has been involved in a high-profile legal case after losing his UK government-paid security detail when he stopped being a working member of the royal family.

Harry has offered to pay personally for the police security detail on his trips to the UK, but has been denied by the court.

A source told People magazine that Harry felt it was an issue in which the King “could intervene”.

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