00:00 And so the prodigal returns. In short order, after the King told his younger son directly about his cancer diagnosis, Harry was on his way back to England.
00:10 It is fitting. If there is one thing that cancer does, it is to concentrate everyone's minds.
00:16 And this useful reminder of the King's vulnerability has had the result of bringing the prodigal son back home.
00:23 And, if the parable is apt, his father will meet him halfway.
00:28 Serious illness puts things into perspective, and the human response to a cancer diagnosis is to look at the wretched squabbles and to see them for the insignificant things they are.
00:39 The Duke is reminded of his father's vulnerability, and he's done the good and decent thing by coming home.
00:45 Harry has put on the record that after a fraught meeting between the King and his sons in the wake of the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral, that his father pleaded with the brothers,
00:54 "Please, boys, don't make my final years a misery." You could say this gesture is a response.
01:01 Having said which, it is frankly grounds for relief that Harry comes without his lovely wife.
01:07 Bluntly, there are probably few elements of the rift between the King and his son that are not aggravated by his wife, Meghan.
01:14 She has done her bit for the success of the meeting by staying put in California. Well done, her.
01:20 There are grounds for the King to feel aggrieved at the Sussexes' willingness to give offence and take offence,
01:25 and sharing what should be private family confidences with an inquisitive world.
01:30 But Robert Hardman, in his biography of the King, has observed that although he's sad about the estrangement, nothing is final.
01:37 "You'd always like your child back," said a senior official. "The door is always open, and now the prodigal is coming through it."
01:45 It may also be tactful for Camilla to absent herself from the scene during the meetings between father and son.
01:51 Harry correctly identifies Camilla as a crucial contributory cause in the breakdown of his parents' marriage,
01:57 and he suggested in his memoir that she had revealed details about him to the press.
02:02 It may or may not be so, but if she is less omnipresent than usual when the King meets his son, it may help.
02:10 But the parable of the prodigal son had, if you recall, a sting in the tail.
02:16 There was the disgruntled elder brother who talked disgustedly about "this son of yours" and declined to join the welcome party.
02:23 And in the case of Harry's elder brother, the sentiment is pretty well identical.
02:28 Things may change, of course, but right now there is no sign of the rapprochement between Prince Harry and his father extending to his brother.
02:37 If, as Robert Hardeman says, the King tries to keep the relationship with his son civil and pragmatic rather than confrontational,
02:45 Prince William feels a resentment only possible between brothers who were once very close.
02:51 He and his wife are reliably reported to detest Meghan, and to despise the way Harry has gone all Californian with his army of therapists.
02:59 He is said to feel he can't recognise his brother any more.
03:03 To return to the bright side, Harry's return to his father in difficult times may be all that is needed to re-establish a kindly father-son relationship.
03:12 If one of the functions of monarchy is to be the human condition writ large, it may give an example of reconciliation to other estranged families.
03:21 The sad aspect of the whole thing is that the King's condition would, in a different scheme of things, have been Harry's opportunity to shine.
03:29 In the slimmed-down monarchy envisaged before his departure from California, Harry would have played an important role in this scenario.
03:36 He could have fulfilled some of his father's public functions, especially those associated with the military,
03:42 and he could have been a human and engaging projection of the monarchy.
03:46 As matters stand, he may well return to California after a few days to brood on his and Meghan's natus lepidix projects.
03:55 It is not a happy prospect.
03:58 Is it too late to hope that he may see how shallow that life looks from outside?
04:03 Having vented his sentiments about feeling trapped as a royal, might there be a chance he could re-enter that world willingly, as a matter of public duty?
04:12 It is unlikely his wife would embrace the idea, but compromise might be possible.
04:17 Perhaps she could stay put in California for much of the time, with the children travelling between them,
04:22 and, with a decent period of reticence, perhaps he and his brother might talk again.
04:28 But for now, we can applaud Harry's decent behaviour.
04:32 When our parents are ill, we should rally around.
04:35 We should let old grievances lie.
04:37 We should practise forgiveness.
04:40 The King was careful to telephone his sons to tell them about his diagnosis before they heard about it from others.
04:46 That was right and proper. So too is this visit.
04:50 The King will take pleasure, as any father would, from his son's return,
04:54 and perhaps he may persuade the prodigal's elder brother to share his joy.
04:59 We don't know what happened in the parable in the end, but it's possible.
05:04 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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