Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have released a new family photo following his public plea to reconcile with his father, King Charles III.
Meghan shared a black-and-white picture via Instagram on Saturday, May 3, showing Harry, 40, walking with the couple’s two children — Archie, born May 2019, and Lilibet (a.k.a. Lili), born 2021. Lili is shown sitting on her father’s shoulders, while the prince holds Archie’s hand as they stroll near a palm tree.
The release of this new family photo comes on the heels of another tumultuous week for Harry and Meghan, 43, due to a legal setback in the U.K. Harry lost his latest appeal in a lengthy battle to reinstate government-funded security in the U.K. when three judges on the country’s Royal and VIP Executive Committee (R.A.V.E.) dismissed the case.
Harry and Meghan originally lost their security detail when they resigned from their royal duties and moved out of the U.K. in 2020. As the royal couple now live in California, their security measures are monitored on a case-by-case basis.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson praised the legal outcome, saying in a statement, “All of these issues have been examined repeatedly and meticulously by the courts, with the same conclusion reached on each occasion.”
Harry and Meghan reacted to Friday’s disappointing court ruling by insisting that they’d only launched their court fight to ensure their family could “safely visit [Harry’s] home country.”
“This process has only ever been about ensuring my safety and that of my immediate family when we are in the United Kingdom, so that we may safely visit my home country with the same level of security that other governments deem necessary for our protection,” Harry wrote in a joint statement. “My ask has been simple: that the standard protocols for security and risk assessments be applied to me in the same way they are to others — including people who have never carried out any public functions on behalf of the State.”
In an interview with BBC News, the Duke of Sussex cast doubt on the likelihood of ever relocating his family back to the U.K. in light of the court ruling.
“I can’t see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the U.K. at this point,” he said. “The things that they’re going to miss is, well, everything. I love my country. I always have done. Despite what some people in that country have done.”
Harry added, “I miss the U.K., I miss parts of the U.K., of course I do. I think that it’s really quite sad that I won’t be able to show my children my homeland.”
The prince subsequently spoke about his strained relationship with his father King Charles III, who has been undergoing treatment following a cancer diagnosis in February 2024.
“I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” Harry told BBC News. “Life is precious. I don’t know how much longer my father has.”
Harry admitted to reporters that King Charles “won’t speak to [him]” following his recent court battle, though he continued to hold out hope to “reconcile” at some stage. The prince said he’d “forgiven” his family for the “many disagreements” they’d had over the years.
