Prince Harry Is Set to Call King Charles on His 75th Birthday Today

The news comes from the BBC.

King Charles and Prince Harry at a royal engagement
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Prince Harry will call his father King Charles III on his 75th birthday today, Nov. 14.

While a son calling his father on his birthday is usually not headline news, in the case of these two men, it very much is—considering they're not exactly besties right now.

Sources close to the royals revealed the Duke of Sussex' intention to make a "transatlantic phone call" to this dad to the BBC. (Side note: I'm totally obsessed with the phrase "transatlantic phone call," as if Harry is going to call an operator and ask for Buckingham Palace instead of, like, using wifi on his iPhone.)

Anyway, following this news, one royal commentator has shared her thoughts on said phone call.

"I don’t believe he will only use the call to wish him happy birthday," Angela Levin, who is often highly critical of the Sussex couple, told The U.S. Sun.

"It's much more likely that he will take the opportunity to try and get an apology out of his father.

"I don't see that Harry genuinely wants to change things in the relationship."

I don't have any special insight into the situation, but I still feel like if Harry is in fact still after an apology, he wouldn't find his dad's birthday to be the best occasion for it... I don't know, though.

Harry's relationship with the royals—in particular the King and Prince William—has gone from bad to worse in the years since the duke left his royal role back in 2020.

The royals were already not super thrilled about his departure, but he and Meghan then opened up about their grievances first during their interview with Oprah in 2021, then in the duchess' podcast Archetypes, followed by their joint Netflix docuseries and lastly Harry's memoir back in January.

Speaking of Harry's relationship with William recently, royal expert Jennie Bond delivered this cold statement: "There comes a point when you just have to accept that happy families are not a game that everyone can play." Yeesh.

Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Bustle and Shape. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.