King Charles III released a statement about unity days after son Prince Harry’s bombshell interview about their family rift.
The royal family members “are much looking forward to all the week’s VE Day events,” a Buckingham Palace rep shared on Sunday, May 4. “They will unite with the rest of the nation and those across the Commonwealth and wider world in celebrating, commemorating and giving thanks to the wartime generation whose selfless devotion, duty and service should stand as an enduring example to us all — and must never be forgotten.”
The week’s events, which kicked off on Monday, May 5, are being held to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe, which put an end to World War II. The royal family appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony on Monday during the military procession through London.
The palace also apparently hopes that “nothing will detract or distract from celebrating with full cheer and proud hearts that precious victory and those brave souls, on this most special and poignant of anniversaries,” according to the BBC on Sunday.
The royal family’s statement comes days after Harry, 40, shared details of his family drama in an interview on Friday, May 2. Charles, 76, “won’t speak to me,” he said during the sit-down interview with BBC News.
“I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” Harry said. “Life is precious. I don’t know how much longer my father has.”
The Duke of Sussex’s interview came after his landmark loss in ongoing battle for security in the U.K. Harry and wife Meghan Markle’s government-funded protection was removed after they departed from the royal family in 2020 and moved to the United States.
On Friday, nearly one month after his two-day appearance in court to appeal the security decision, a judge dismissed Harry’s appeal. (Harry also released a lengthy note addressing the decision.)
“There is a lot of control and ability in my father’s hands,” Harry said. “Ultimately, this whole thing could be resolved through him. Not necessarily by intervening, but by stepping aside, allowing the experts [to] do what is necessary.”
Harry also stated that the outcome was “really quite sad,” especially since he can’t bring kids Archie, 5, and daughter Lilibet, 3, to the U.K. without protection.
“I can’t see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the U.K. at this point,” Harry declared on Friday. “I love my country, I always have done, despite what some people in that country have done.”
