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ALLOA, UNITED KINGDOM - JANUARY 16: King Charles III visits The Gate charity, a community resource that offers support, practical help, and provides a safe environment to those affected by homelessness and food insecurity, on January 16, 2025 in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland.
Photo by Jane Barlow-WPA Pool/Getty Images

‘He hardly knows them’: King Charles feels ‘great sadness’ as he’s seemingly cut off from Harry and Meghan’s kids forever

The king is missing his grandkids' childhood.

King Charles has been surrounded by family over the past year, as he has undergone a battle with cancer, but infamously he’s not had every Royal around him. Prince Harry had a single 45-minute meeting with his father after the king’s diagnosis was made public last February, but Meghan Markle and the couple’s children haven’t set foot in the U.K. since Queen Elizabeth died in 2022.

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While he no doubt gets to regularly see his grandchildren on Prince William’s side — that’s Prince George (11), Princess Charlotte (9), and Prince Louis (6) — things are very different when it comes to Harry and Meghan’s kids. Charles only got to be close to his youngest grandson, Prince Archie (5), for the first two years of his life before the Sussexes relocated to North America in 2020. As for granddaughter Princess Lilibet (3), as far as we’re aware he’s only met her in the flesh a single time.

As an old-fashioned Royal, even if he is growing more sentimental these days, his personal feelings over the absence of his grandkids in his life isn’t something Charles is going to talk much about publicly. Even so, it seems fair to say that, especially at this vulnerable time in his life, the king feels a “great sadness” that he will never see them grow up in the flesh.

“Once they’re gone, they’re gone”: King Charles “must hurt” over missing Archie and Lilibet’s childhood, but he’s warned not to “dwell” on it

DURHAM, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 15: Prince Charles, Prince of Wales visits the new Emergency Service Station at Barnard Castle on February 15, 2018 in Durham, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson - WPA Pool /Getty Images) BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - AUGUST 16: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex are seen at a Training Session with Invictus Games Team Colombia at the Centro de Rehabilitación Inclusiva during The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's Colombia Visit on August 16, 2024 in Bogota, Colombia. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Archewell Foundation via Getty Images)
Photo by Chris Jackson – WPA Pool /Eric Charbonneau/Archewell Foundation via Getty Images

According to Royal expert Jennie Bond, the enforced estrangement from his two youngest grandchildren is likely weighing on the king as he enters his 77th year.

The former BBC correspondent told The Mirror of how hard the absence of Archie and Lilibet in his life must hit him, especially as the continuing gulf between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the rest of the Royal Family shows no signs of closing.

“It must remain a great sadness to the King to be so distant from his two US-based grandchildren — he hardly knows them and there’s no prospect of that changing any time soon,” Bond speculated. “The early years in a child’s life are so magical — and once they’re gone, they’re gone.”

Bond expressed her hopes that the king is able to take solace in the presence of William and Kate’s three children in his life and doesn’t let his distant relationship with his (very American) grandkids, Archie and Lilibet, bring him down. “I hope the King doesn’t dwell on his loss too much,” she added, even if she admitted “it must hurt.”

Of course, there is one potential silver lining to Charles’ sadness that allows him some connection to his grandchildren. Even if it’s not something that the public has been made aware of, it’s entirely plausible that the Sussexes keep him updated about Archie and Lilibet in private. “Maybe, behind the scenes, Harry and Meghan have sent pictures to the King,” Bond suggested.


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Christian Bone
Editor and Writer
Christian Bone is a Staff Writer/Editor at We Got This Covered. Since graduating with a Creative Writing degree from the University of Winchester, he has been cluttering up the internet with his thoughts on movies and TV for over a decade. The MCU is his comfort place but, if you asked him, he'd probably say his favorite superhero film is The Incredibles.