Prince Harry said he could no longer fight, declaring "life is precious" more than a year ago after losing his appeal over the security levels he believes his family is entitled to while in the UK.
Since he and Meghan quit their royal roles in 2020, the Duke of Sussex has been no stranger to the courtroom, earning huge sums of money at the expense of the family he left behind.
Now that the book promos, interviews and Netflix series have all but dried up, he is seeking reconciliation with loved ones from whom he has been largely estranged for the past six years.
King's cancer diagnosis
His father's health has played a part. To his credit, Harry did drop everything, although nobody can be quite sure how full his schedule is aside from his various legal disputes, to rush to be by his father's side after the announcement in February 2024 that he had been diagnosed with cancer. The meeting lasted just 30 minutes, and since then Harry's dealings with the King have been brief, showing little sign of moving toward the rapprochement he now craves.
The King has shown no signs of clearing the decks for that to happen, continuing with a packed schedule of commitments at home and abroad. Those close to him suggest that if you did not know his diagnosis, there would be little clue to the suffering he has endured.
Weekly treatments, a hospitalisation midway through described as "a bump in the road", and the weight of expectation to secure a legacy while not fully knowing his prognosis—those in his circle suggest this is the absolute demonstration of service and duty.
A royal exit and a falling star
Long before announcing they were leaving royal roles in search of "financial freedom", Harry and Meghan had plotted a scenario to become the first royals to create a new way of working for The Firm. The "half in-half out" model was roundly rejected by the late Queen Elizabeth II, leaving the Sussexes to exit with nothing but their royal association.
For a good while, that connection served as almost the sole vehicle to earning tens of millions of pounds in the corporate world, seemingly without regard to the destruction of the relationships they had vowed to honour. Aside from those who fawn over every announcement or TV appearance, their star has fallen along with their global popularity.
Reunion at the Invictus Games?
Harry and Meghan's latest meeting with the King and Queen, who attended as a watchful eye over any potential deviations from the planned pleasantries, is a key moment for the Sussexes. There is little chance the Prince and Princess of Wales will welcome them back into palace grounds, let alone the royal fold.
Harry now wants to capitalise on this new-found relationship by planning to convince his father to be by his side for the homecoming of his Invictus Games event.
The one man who would have had the power to convince the monarch against the idea, Sir Clive Alderton, the King and Queen's principal private secretary, is to step down from his role next year after more than two decades of service to the royal household. This may yet prove decisive in Harry's plan to achieve a very public reunion.
