Prince Harry’s awkward silence on King Charles’ birthday is causing concern

Prince Harry’s recent actions appear to have further strained his relationship with the royal family, as he overlooked a key moment to publicly acknowledge his father, King Charles.

The king, who celebrated his 76th birthday on Thursday, marked the occasion amid a challenging year following a cancer diagnosis.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex chose not to send a public birthday message to King Charles on his milestone day. This birthday had extra significance because it was the king’s first birthday since being diagnosed with cancer in February 2024.

After the diagnosis, Prince Harry rushed back to Britain in February, where he briefly reunited with his father at Clarence House. Despite making three trips to Britain since then, the Duke of Sussex has not met King Charles in person in the past nine months.

On September 15, to mark Harry’s 40th birthday, the royal family’s official social media account, which represents King Charles, shared a public birthday message for the Duke of Sussex. The official account from Prince William and Princess Kate also expressed their well wishes.

Royal family accounts typically reserve posts for milestone birthdays of non-working royals. Given the strained relationship between Harry and senior royals, these September greetings were seen as an olive branch extended to Harry and Meghan.

However, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not publicly acknowledge the King’s 75th birthday last year.

Reports suggest that Harry privately called his father on this occasion, but no such confirmation has yet surfaced regarding this year’s milestone. With no public notice or known private contact, it appears Harry and Meghan missed an opportunity to reciprocate the king’s gesture of goodwill.