The Father’s Day post came a day after the royal family’s appearance at Trooping the Colour
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NEED TO KNOW
- King Charles and Queen Camilla marked Father’s Day on June 15 with throwback photos shared on Instagram
- The annual celebration came a day after Trooping the Colour, a high-profile event and the King’s official birthday parade
- Prince Harry was noticeably absent from the event as a rift continues to cause distance despite him having recently said he would “love” to reconcile
King Charles is commemorating Father’s Day amid a rift with his son Prince Harry.
On Sunday, June 15, the King’s team posted a tribute on the Instagram account that he shares with Queen Camilla to mark the occasion. The annual holiday is celebrated on the third Sunday in June in both the U.K. and the U.S.
A black and white throwback photograph of King Charles and Princess Anne being pushed on a swing by their late father, Prince Philip, was shared alongside a snap of Queen Camilla with her own father, the late Major Bruce Shand.
“To all Dads everywhere, we wish you a happy Father’s Day today,” the post was captioned.
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The holiday came amid a rift distancing the King, 76, from his younger son, the Duke of Sussex, in a fissure that won’t seem to heal. Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, were not invited to the third Trooping the Colour of the King’s reign on Saturday, June 14, where many members of the royal family came together to attend the King’s official birthday parade.
The familial rift first became public when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back from their royal roles in 2020 and relocated to her home state of California. The couple made the move with their son Prince Archie, now 6, while their daughter Princess Lilibet, 4, was born in California in 2021.
A sticking point of the strain is said to be the automatic state-funded U.K. security that Prince Harry lost when he stepped back from his royal role. On May 2, a judge dismissed his pivotal legal appeal to have the protection restored, a crucial update in the legal battle Harry’s lawyers have described as a fight for his life.
Opening up to the BBC in a bombshell interview that aired the same day, the Duke of Sussex said he would “love” to reconcile with his family, but that King Charles “won’t speak to me.”
“I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” Prince Harry said in the interview.
“Life is precious. I don’t know how much longer my father has,” he continued, referencing the King’s cancer diagnosis announced in 2024. Palace sources said at the end of last year that the King’s treatment for cancer would continue into this year, “moving in a positive direction and as a managed condition.”
In a personal admission, Harry added, “He won’t speak to me because of this security stuff, but it would be nice to reconcile.”
