There’s one thing about King Charles, Archie, and Lilibet’s relationship that has the monarch feeling not too pleased: he doesn’t get to see them much. But according to one royal expert, he’s ready to change that.
The 75-year-old monarch hasn’t had too many opportunities to spend time with his grandkids, mostly because they live across the pond in America with their parents, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved to the US after they stepped back from their roles as senior working members of the royal family in 2020. Since then, they’ve rarely brought their children back to the UK due to security fears (not to mention, the ongoing family feud with the royals). In fact, the king has only seen Archie in person a handful of times and met Lilibet once. However, according to royal expert Jennie Bond, the King would love the chance build a better relationship with his grandkids.
“Having grandchildren is a powerful tug on the heartstrings. Little people who are part of your bloodline and have had nothing to do with family quarrels and tensions,” she shared with OK! magazine. “So I can imagine that the King very much wants the chance to get to know Archie and Lilibet and to create some memories for them.”
Bond thinks Archie and Lilibet could even be the key to smoothing things over in the family. The little ones might convince Charles and Harry to “forgive, if not forget, the bitter rows of the past,” she speculated.
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Efforts to foster a closer relationship already seem underway, with King Charles reportedly considering an official visit to the United States soon. “Charles has had discussions about an official visit to the United States at some time in the future,” royal author Tom Quinn recently shared with The Mirror. According to the author, there’s “no doubt” that the monarch would schedule time with Prince Harry and his grandchildren, but “there are mountains of planning to be overcome before that becomes even a remote possibility.”
However, crazier things have been accomplished, as Quinn admits. “King Charles has privately visited many other countries—he made an unpublicized visit to Transylvania for example to check up on his rental properties—so it’s certainly possible that he would make a discreet private visit to Harry and the children in California,” Quinn shared.
Following his cancer diagnosis, the pressure is certainly on the monarch to make the most of his relationships. “He is desperate to see them and hates the idea that Archie and Lily will not remember him as the warm friendly grandfather he wants to be,” Quinn added.
Apparently, even Queen Camilla is on board with bringing the family closer together. The Mirror reports that the Queen Dowager was thought to be behind some of the efforts to boost Charles’ bond with his grandkids, after the couple sent Lilibet a “heartfelt gift and card” for her third birthday. Now, as for whether these efforts will all pan out, we’ll just have to wait and see.
