Returning to the United Kingdom to give a charity prize on September 8, the third anniversary of the death of Elizabeth II, Prince Harry had hoped for a thaw with his father, Charles III, and his brother, William. After his memoirs and television interviews that had naked behind the scenes of the monarchy, the relationship seemed irreparably broken. The announcement of the sovereign cancer had however rebatted the cards. In a rare speech granted to the BBC, the Duke of Sussex had delivered words without detour: “I would really like to reconcile with my family, there is no point in continuing to argue. Life is precious, I don’t know how long my father still has to live, he doesn’t want to talk to me anymore …“Since his revelations, the king had ceased private exchanges, dreading new unpacking.
An invitation to invictus games posed as a symbol
To relaunch the link, Harry had chosen neutral and personal land. According to the Daily Mail, last June, he officially invited his father and brother to the Invictus 2027 games, a competition he founded in 2014 for injured or sick soldiers. The idea was simple and strong at the same time: to offer a meaningful meeting, far from the decorum, capable of rebuilding a battered confidence. This approach, however, offered no guarantee of favorable response, especially since it would have encountered the 80th anniversary of Queen Camilla. In the logic of forgiveness, psychologist Maryse Vaillant recalled a useful grammar: “In a request for forgiveness, it is good to express the regret of your own fault and then to apologize, his desire to forgiveness, without obliging the other to forgive you“.
For the dialogue to take, clear limits and a shared effort
Grounding the hand is not enough if the other cannot enter it. Clinical psychologist Amélie Boukhobza summed up the basic condition of a lasting rapprochement: “It is essential that each of the two parties believe that the relationship can evolve, even if it takes time. Otherwise nothing is possible“. Specialists also insist on the need to rest a framework after a crisis. As Amélie Boukhobza details,”If there was conflict, it is that limits have been exceeded. So during the exchange, it is essential to rest the limits acceptable to everyone, the limits acceptable for the moment, knowing that they can be questioned with time“. Clearly, Harry’s invitation, if she counted, could not alone erase wounds: reconstruction depended on a reciprocal desire to start from scratch, not an isolated gesture. His arrival in London today will more determine the conditions and the purpose of this possible reconciliation.