In a vulnerable sit-down interview, Prince Harry told the BBC on Friday that King Charles won’t speak to him, but he’s hopeful for reconciliation while his father is still alive.

“I don’t know how much longer my father has. He won’t speak to me because of this security stuff,” the Duke of Sussex said of the 76-year-old king, who has undergone cancer treatment and was briefly hospitalized in March.

The interview aired the same day Harry lost his appeal challenging the U.K. government’s decision to strip him of his publicly funded security after he stepped back from his royal duties and relocated his family to the United States. Private security guards may not carry guns in the U.K., and Harry previously lost in his bid to pay for police protection himself.

“I can’t see a world in which I would bring 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 … despite what some people in that country have done … and I think that it’s really quite sad that I won’t be able to show my children my homeland.” He added that he’s “devastated” by the court’s decision.

Harry said he believes it’s within his father’s powers to rectify the security situation, which the duke’s lawyers argued in court last month puts his life in danger.

“There is a lot of control and ability in my father’s hands. Ultimately this whole thing could be resolved through him,” Harry stated.

When reached for comment, a palace spokesperson said: “All of these issues have been examined repeatedly and meticulously by the courts, with the same conclusion reached on each occasion.”

In the BBC interview, Harry added he would “love reconciliation with my family” and believes there’s “no point in continuing to fight anymore,” even if some of them will “never forgive” him for his 2023 memoir that aired decades of family drama.

The security issue has “always been the sticking point,” Harry said, adding that he believes the government committee that stripped him of his family’s security detail did so strategically.

“Everybody knew that they were putting us at risk in 2020, and they hoped that me knowing that risk would force us to come back,” he said.

Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped down as senior royals and relocated to California in 2020 with their son, Archie. Their daughter, Lilibet, was born the following year.

King Charles spoke about his own experience as a cancer patient on Wednesday, during a private reception he and Queen Camilla hosted at Buckingham Palace.

The royals welcomed people working in community-based cancer organizations and initiatives, with the king personally expressing gratitude for their dedicated work.

“Each diagnosis, each new case, will be a daunting and at times frightening experience for those individuals and their loved ones,” the king said in his speech. “But as one among those statistics myself, I can vouch for the fact that it can also be an experience that brings into sharp focus the very best of humanity.”

Charles, who was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer last year, said his experience “has certainly given me an even deeper appreciation of the extraordinary work” done by those he was hosting at the reception.

“And it has reinforced what I have long observed during these visits — that the darkest moments of illness can be illuminated by the greatest compassion,” he said.

To those gathered on Wednesday night, the king added, “You have my whole family’s deepest admiration and gratitude.”

He also sent out a message “to those who may be receiving such upsetting news today, tomorrow or at any point in the future.”

“I can only echo the departing words of the late Dame Deborah James, whose parents I am delighted to have with us here this evening, and whose example stands as an inspiration to us all, in sickness and in health: ‘Find a life worth enjoying; take risks; love deeply; have no regrets; and always, always have rebellious hope,’” he said. “I am so very grateful for all that you do.”

Charles stepped back from royal responsibilities shortly after his diagnosis last February, but made his return to public duties in April 2024.

Although Charles remains occupied with work ― including international engagements ― Buckingham Palace disclosed that the monarch was briefly hospitalized in late March.

The palace said in a statement at the time that the king was canceling engagements after experiencing “temporary side effects” due to a cancer-related treatment.

“His majesty has now returned to Clarence House and as a precautionary measure, acting on medical advice, tomorrow’s diary program will also be rescheduled,” the palace said. “His majesty would like to send his apologies to all those who may be inconvenienced or disappointed as a result.”

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III waved to well-wishers in central London on Friday as he headed for his country estate in western England a day after he was briefly hospitalized because of side effects from a scheduled cancer treatment.

Charles canceled planned engagements on Thursday afternoon and Friday on the advice of his doctors, Buckingham Palace said, without providing details about the “temporary side effects” that he experienced.

But the episode was a reminder that the king is 76 and continues to undergo treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer diagnosed more than a year ago.

That reality has slipped away from the collective consciousness since last spring, when Charles returned to public duties after stepping away for almost three months to focus on his initial treatment and recovery.

In the intervening months, he has attended D-Day commemoration events in France, presided over the State Opening of Parliament and even embarked on a nine-day visit to Australia and Samoa.

But during the early stages of his treatment, Charles continued fulfilling his constitutional duties as head of state, including reviewing government papers and meeting with the prime minister.

Here’s a brief rundown of what we know about the king’s health.

The king went to the London Clinic on Thursday morning for a scheduled cancer treatment. The clinic is a private hospital in central London, where Charles has been receiving treatment since his diagnosis in February 2024.

“Following scheduled and ongoing medical treatment for cancer this morning, the king experienced temporary side effects that required a short period of observation in hospital,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement. “His majesty’s afternoon engagements were therefore postponed.”

The king then returned to his home at Clarence House, where he reviewed papers and made calls, the palace said. Queen Camilla didn’t join him at the hospital.

“His majesty would like to send his apologies to all those who may be inconvenienced or disappointed as a result,” the palace said in a statement.

The king is expected to press ahead with his work in the coming days, including a state visit to Italy scheduled for early April.

Palace officials have recognized that it’s better to release some information about the king’s health, rather than allow media speculation to fill the void when he’s forced to cancel scheduled events.

But they have tried to walk a fine line, seeking to balance the public’s legitimate interest in the health of the head of state with Charles’ right to privacy.

This was seen first in January 2024, when the palace announced Charles was being treated for an enlarged prostate, followed by the cancer diagnosis a few weeks later.

The decision to talk about the king’s health issues marked a departure from past palace protocols. For example, when Queen Elizabeth II began missing events toward the end of her life, royal officials repeatedly said that she was suffering from “mobility issues,” without providing further details. Her death certificate listed the cause as “old age.”

The public was unaware that Charles’ grandfather, King George VI, had lung cancer before his death in February 1952 at the age of 56. Some historians suggest that even the king wasn’t told about the gravity of his condition.

Health authorities have applauded the king’s openness, saying his disclosures saved lives by encouraging thousands of men to have prostate exams.

Royal experts say Charles’ candor has also brought him closer to the public by demonstrating that he faces the same kinds of challenges that they do. Health is, after all, the great leveler.

Charles’ busy schedule is a reminder that this is a man who waited around seven decades to become monarch and he wants to make the most of it.

The king has been open about his desire to demonstrate that the monarchy still has a role to play as a symbol of unity and tradition in the sometimes fractious, multicultural nation that is 21st-century Britain.

And the job of a modern king is to take part in a whirl of public events, from the pageantry of state occasions when he wears the crown and rides through the streets of London in a horse-drawn carriage to more mundane appearances such as opening public buildings or handing out awards for public service.

Charles took part in 372 public engagements last year, even after stepping aside for almost three months because of cancer treatment, according to data compiled by The Times of London newspaper. That made him the second-busiest royal behind his sister, Princes Anne, who had 474 engagements.

Charles has long been known as a workaholic, and Queen Camilla said last year that he “won’t slow down and won’t do what he’s told.” During her Reading Room literary festival in July, the queen told author Lee Child that her husband was “doing fine,” but hadn’t heeded her advice to curtail his schedule.

Prince Harry once said that his father worked so hard that he would fall asleep at his desk and wake up with bits of paper stuck to his face.

The king’s busy schedule has obscured the fact that he is an older man with cancer, said Robert Hardman, author of “Charles III: New King, New Court, the Inside Story.”

“We’ve seen him go back to normal,” Hardman told the BBC on Friday.

“I think this is sort of a reminder that this is a head of state undergoing treatment for cancer, because I think a lot of us tended to forget it.”