Prince Harry is not an evil genius, but I do think his whirlwind 25-hour trip to the UK will box in a lot of anti-Sussex narratives for a time. If Harry had not made the effort, the entire British media would have been solely devoted to calling Harry a sh-tty son and a terrible person for refusing to publicly acknowledge his poor father. Harry’s visit put the onus on Charles, and Charles panicked and could not even clear his schedule for one hour for his son, nor did Charles even offer Harry a room in any of the London palaces, nor did Charles invite Harry to Sandringham so they could even spend some real time together. So it is what it is – Harry is a good son, Charles is a dogs-t father, the same as it ever was. Hilariously, Katie Nicholl is still trying to play it like Charles is desperate for a reconciliation. If he was so desperate, could he have not cleared one full hour?

Royal Expert Katie Nicholl spoke with ET on Tuesday and shared some insight into the state of Harry and Charles’s relationship and how Harry has handled the news of his father’s illness.

“His father personally telephoned him to inform him of his cancer diagnosis, [and] Harry jumped on the overnight flight from Los Angeles,” Nicholl shared, adding that when he arrived in London, Harry “came straight to Clarence House for what we understand was a brief meeting with his father. One could only imagine that it would have been an emotional reunion. Because they haven’t seen each other since the King’s coronation, and then they didn’t get to spend very much time together at all.”

According to Nicholl, Charles “desperately wants to reconcile with Harry,” so he can have a real relationship with both his son and his grandchildren.

“The king would have been hugely relieved and comforted by the fact that Harry flew over,” Nicholl shared, explaining that the meeting likely was “emotional and probably quite difficult for both of them.”

Harry and Charles’ meeting was not a lengthy one, “But however brief that meeting may have been, I think it’s absolutely fundamental and important and healing the rift between father and son,” Nicholl said. “I certainly think we’re seeing a real thawing in the relations between Charles and his son. I know, for Charles, the door has always been left open regardless of some of the things Harry has written… I was told by a source very close to the king that whatever Harry has said or done, he loves his son. He wants to repair that relationship and indeed have a relationship with his daughter-in-law and his grandchildren,” she added, referring to the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle — who stayed in California with their children, Archie, 4, and Lilibet, 2 — while Harry flew to London.

“I think when someone has a serious health scare like this, it does make you reassess things,” Nicholl said, “and I think that’s why Harry got on the first flight he could.”

As for repairing the rift between Harry and his older brother, Prince William, Nicholl said, “I think that’s less certain.”

[From ET]

“But however brief that meeting may have been, I think it’s absolutely fundamental and important and healing the rift between father and son.” My honest-to-God theory is that Charles’s current relationship to Harry is (from Charles’s perspective) singularly about power. Charles wants to demonstrate to himself and the public that he still has power over Harry in some way, that he still has the power to bring Harry “back,” that Harry’s visit was about some kind of fealty from son to father. Harry, obviously, views all of this differently and he’s made that pretty clear in interviews and in his memoir. He loves his father so much and he allows himself to be used by Charles occasionally. I think Harry sees that as the price he has to pay to have some kind of relationship with Charles, however toxic. That’s my armchair analysis of what’s going on! For Harry, this is about love. For Charles, it’s about power.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.