Prince Harry Drops Tragic Clue About The True State Of King Charles' Health

In February 2024, the world was taken by surprise when Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles III had started cancer treatment. It was notable in part because royals who have received cancer diagnoses often keep it to themselves. And while the 76-year-old king returned to royal duties later that same year, his March 2025 hospitalization was related to his cancer treatments. That would seem to show that he's not at peak health even after more than a year of ongoing treatment. And we now have some new, and quite sad, insight into his health, thanks to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, which hints at potential larger issues. In an interview with BBC News, Harry was asked about his father, and he said, "You know, life, life is a precious thing, and I'm acutely aware of the fragility of that."

Later in the interview, he repeated the same sentiment and specifically mentioned his father: "As I said, life is precious. I don't know how much longer my father has" (via BBC News). The length of anyone's life is inherently a mystery, and the palace line seems to be that King Charles continues to be on the mend. But for Harry to voice clear concerns about how long his father will live, it seems to show that he has some very real worries.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex also spoke directly of hoping to reconcile with his family, saying, "There's no point in continuing to fight anymore" (via BBC News). As this comes amidst the ongoing feud between Harry and King Charles III, it could be that Harry is looking to extend an olive branch to a father who is sicker than the rest of us realized. It's hard to say for certain, especially since Harry has said that he and his father aren't speaking due to the security concerns that Harry has about visiting the U.K.

On May 2, Harry lost his appeal to have security provided for him and his family when he is in the U.K. Once Harry and Meghan's final days as senior royals were over, they lost their automatic security; now if-slash-when they are in England, they would have to provide their own protection, which Harry has argued for years is not enough.

Even if he is invited back by King Charles, gets the security that he feels that he needs, and their relationship is on the mend before the king's health gets any worse, Harry might not ever be able to get back on a good footing with the rest of his family. Outside of the security argument, Harry acknowledged some of his relatives may continue to hold a grudge due to his memoir "Spare." Harry didn't name names, but there were a number of big claims that Harry made about his brother William, Prince of Wales in his memoir, so we could see him being a candidate.