Prince Harry's UK pals 'make pact as homesick prince sends unusual texts'

In a rare trip to the UK, Prince Harry has attended the WellChild Awards, as well as conducting a series of other visits to the charities he supports. The Duke of Sussex has come back to his home country solo with Meghan and his children remaining in California, and reports are swirling that he might reunite with his father, King Charles, whilst he is visiting.

Harry's been public about his desire to build bridges with his family, with whom relations have been strained since he decided to step back as a working royal five years ago. After moving across the pond, Harry has been candid about his grievances with some of his relatives - and their staff - with his memoir Spare also lifting the lid on his childhood and longstanding sibling rivalry with Prince William.

However, royal insiders claim that Harry has been "pining" for the UK and desperately trying to make amends with his friends from home.

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One of the Duke's friends told the Standard that this has included sending them "long" messages on WhatsApp trying to reconnect, indicating he is really "homesick" for the UK.

"Spike (his nickname among his old school friends) is seriously homesick. He’s started reaching out to us more and more.

"It started with very long and earnest WhatsApps. We actually all made a decision when we started getting them not to take the p*ss out of them.

"Something we couldn’t have imagined doing a few years before. Anyway, gradually, he seems to be sounding more normal. Whenever anyone goes to America they try to see him. It never seems to be with Meghan though. We think he is beginning to pine for home," the pal explained.

The report claims that the pining isn't just going one way across the Atlantic, with King Charles also missing having a relationship with his youngest son. A courtier told the outlet that Charles has "always absolutely adored" Harry, and in fact has had a more strained relationship with William over the years than his younger son, despite Harry's tendency in recent years to drop public bombshells.

In an interview with the BBC after he lost his case against the Home Office to have his automatic police security reinstated, Harry said he was "devastated" not to be on speaking terms with his family, and claimed Charles "won't speak to me because of this security stuff".

Harry also said he didn't want to keep fighting and that since Charles's cancer diagnosis in 2024, he does "not know how much longer my father has".