Britain's King Charles III waves as he arrives for for a visit to University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre in London in April. Photo / AP
King Charles is reportedly not “content” with only seeing his grandchildren Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet on video calls from California.
The youngsters live in the United States with their parents, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and they rarely get a chance to spend time with their grandfather, who is based in Britain. Now a source reports the King longs to see more of the children.
An insider told the Mirror newspaper: “The King is absolutely committed to being present in all of his grandchildren’s lives. He values family above everything and whatever the course of his relationship with his son he would never be content with just seeing his grandchildren on the odd video call.”
Royal author Ingrid Seward also opened up about the King’s relationship with his US-based grandchildren, telling the publication: “It is a great sadness to him he doesn’t see more of Archie and Lilibet.
“That is why he will never break ties with Harry. He does not want a FaceTime relationship with his son’s children. He wants to know them and be involved with their lives while they are still young enough to be able to learn from his wisdom.”
However, an insider close to Harry insisted there’s nothing blocking the monarch from having a relationship with the kids, telling the Mirror: “There has never been an issue with the King being in their lives and there never would be. The door is always open.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back from their duties as senior royals in 2020 and moved to Canada before later decamping to California with their son. Daughter Lilibet was later born in the US.
Tensions between the couple and their family back in Britain have been strained after a series of public revelations from the Sussexes in their interview with Oprah Winfrey, their Netflix docuseries as well as Harry’s book Spare but the Duke made a dash back to Britain earlier this year to see his father following the King’s diagnosis with cancer.