Prince Harry has had tea with the King at their first meeting in 19 months, in what may prove a first step towards ending a much-publicised rift between father and son.

Harry, the Duke of Sussex, last saw his father in February 2024, shortly after it was announced that the King was being treated for an unspecified form of cancer.

Buckingham Palace confirmed that the 76-year-old monarch had a private tea at Clarence House in London with his son on Wednesday (local time).

The meeting between the two lasted 54 minutes.

About an hour after their meeting, Harry appeared relaxed, smiling and upbeat as he mingled with corporate sponsors and government ministers at an Invictus reception at The Gherkin building in the City of London.

“Yes he’s great, thank you,” he said when asked shortly after arriving how his father was.

Harry, 40, flew into Britain on Monday for a host of charity engagements. Earlier on Wednesday, he visited a research centre that specialises in improving treatment for victims with blast injuries.

The King, who is still being treated for cancer, arrived in London from Balmoral on Wednesday, the penultimate day of his youngest son’s four-day trip to Britain.

There was a window of opportunity for their meeting before Harry had to leave for his Invictus Games event and the King had an audience at with South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas.

Since Harry and his US wife Meghan Markle moved to California in 2020 – where they live with their two children – they have been highly critical of the royal family and the institution in interviews, TV documentaries and Harry’s autobiography Spare.

He previously claimed the King was jealous of Meghan and his brother Prince William’s wife Kate, did not hug him when he told him his mother Diana, Princess of Wales had died, and said he believed the King was “never made” for single parenthood, but “to be fair, he tried”.

The King, according to Harry, pleaded with his sons during a tense meeting after the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral: “Please, boys. Don’t make my final years a misery.”

Harry remains estranged from William, who has busied himself with a flurry of engagements this week. On Wednesday, he was in Cardiff  visiting a new mental health hub on World Suicide Prevention Day.

In May, after losing a legal battle with the British government over his security, Harry said he wanted a rapprochement with his family.

“Of course, some members of my family will never forgive me for writing a book. Of course they will never forgive me for lots of things. But you know … I would love reconciliation with my family … There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore. And life is precious,” he told the BBC.

“I don’t know how much longer my father has. He won’t speak to me because of this security stuff but it would be nice to reconcile.”

Both Buckingham Palace and Harry’s representatives had been tight-lipped ahead of the prince’s visit to Britain about whether there would be a meeting with his father.

However, the King’s communications chief and Harry’s media representatives were pictured in July at a secret meeting in London in what newspapers suggested might be the first steps towards a reconciliation.

Historian and author Anthony Seldon said mending their relationship was important for the monarchy and for both the King and Harry as individuals.

“The King is the King, but he’s also a human being and a loving father,” Seldon told Reuters.

“I think the rift will have caused both of them a lot of anguish. So if that can be healed, at least in part, now or subsequently, then that’s all to the good.”

-with AAP