Buckingham Palace revealed Wednesday that King Charles III will appoint his eldest son, Prince William, to be the new colonel heading Prince Harry's former regiment. The announcement came after it news surfaced that the king was "too busy" to meet his son Prince Harry, who arrived in the UK on Tuesday.
The palace announced that a royal ceremony will be held next week with William and Charles participating, during which the heir to the throne will be appointed as the colonel-in-chief of the Royal Air Force.
Even after Prince Harry left the palace in January 2020, the prevailing opinion was that the role of colonel would remain his since he led the regiment, with which he patrolled in Afghanistan until 2014. Still, the palace announced in a statement that: "His Majesty the King will officially hand over the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales."
The palace's announcement raised eyebrows across the UK, and experts agreed that "timing is everything." This is the second “blow” the king is delivering to his younger son, who has often talked in detail about the cold shoulder his father has given him over the years.
Prince Harry landed in the UK on Tuesday and participated in a panel called "Realizing Global Community." His father - King Charles, who was only three kilometers away from his son, didn’t meet him, and worse than that, Prince Harry had dinner with urban financier Guy Monson instead of his family.
"This, whatever the logistics, will be widely perceived as a snub,” royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told the Mail Online. "This is one of the most public rifts in the world. If it was handled in private without so much press speculation, it would have a better chance of being resolved.”
Michael Cole, former BBC Royal correspondent, added: "It is quite a snub. For the king to not see his younger son, Prince Harry, although the two men will be only two miles apart tomorrow afternoon, gives an indication of the depth of the divide. The Prodigal Son is not welcome - not for the present, anyway.”