King Charles sends Prince Harry touching 40th birthday message in social media tribute
King Charles has offered what Royal experts believe to be a significant olive branch to Prince Harry by publicly wishing him well on social media for his 40th birthday, reports The Express.
Prince Harry is celebrating the milestone on Sunday, September 15. It's an occasion that did not go unnoticed by King Charles and Queen Camilla. They took to their official Clarence House social media account to share good wishes, posting: "Wishing The Duke of Sussex a very happy 40th birthday today!"
Prince Harry is spending his milestone birthday on Sunday with wife Meghan Markle and their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. He is then said to be heading away for a gathering with close friends.
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Harry enters his fifth decade in what has been a rollercoaster year for the royal family, with both the King and the Princess of Wales being diagnosed with cancer. But the duke, who lives in California after stepping down from the working monarchy, remains estranged from his brother the Prince of Wales and faces a strained relationship with Charles.
When the King’s shock health news was announced in February, Harry made a transatlantic dash to see him but his meeting with his father was kept to just 45 minutes. In comments released to the BBC, the duke said “I was anxious about 30, I’m excited about 40”, and described how fatherhood had given him a renewed sense of purpose to make “this world a better place”.
Harry’s year has seen him try his hand at the skeleton bobsled when he joined Invictus Games competitors training in Canada, and undertake quasi-royal tours to Colombia and Nigeria. In Colombia, Meghan, addressed a panel on Afro-Descendant Women and Power and told how her three-year-old daughter Lili had “absolutely found her voice”.
The couple also relaunched their Archewell website, rebranding it as Sussex.com under the title The Office of Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Harry travelled to London in May to celebrate a decade of his Invictus Games and attended a service at St Paul’s Cathedral but did not meet up with his brother or father.
Birmingham has won the bid to host the sporting competition in 2027, with the duke congratulating the city on its success and looking set to attend the Games in the UK in three years’ time.
In July, Harry received the Pat Tillman Award for Service, awarded by sports channel ESPN to individuals in the sporting world, for using his platform to “change the world”.
But Tillman’s mother Mary reportedly expressed her shock that the honour was given to “such a controversial and divisive individual”.
In his speech, Harry praised Mrs Tillman, saying: “Her advocacy for Pat’s legacy is deeply personal and one that I respect. The bond between a mother and son is eternal and transcends even the greatest losses.”