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Prince Harry remains hopeful that his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, will see his children.
The Duke of Sussex, who is in the Netherlands for the Invictus Games, sat down with Hoda Kotb for the “Today” show on Wednesday. The 37-year-old told the TV host that he’s unsure whether he will travel to the U.K. for the queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June, in part due to security concerns.
“I don’t know yet,” Harry admitted. “There’s lots of things: security issues and everything else. So this is what I’m trying to do, trying to make it possible that, you know, I can get my kids to meet her.”
Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, visited his homeland for a visit with the monarch, 95, at Windsor Castle last week before they kicked off the Invictus Games in the Netherlands.
PRINCE HARRY SEEMINGLY DODGES QUESTION ABOUT MISSING DAD PRINCE CHARLES, BROTHER PRINCE WILLIAM
Prince Harry is in the Netherlands for the Invictus Games.
(Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Global Citizen Vax Live)
“It was great, it was really nice to see her,” said the prince. “To see her in an element of privacy was nice.”
“We have a really special relationship,” he continued when talking about his bond with the queen. “We talk about things she can’t talk about with anyone else.”
When Kotb, 57, asked Harry if he missed his family back home in the U.K., he replied, “Yes, I think especially over the last two years, how do you not miss your family?”
Kotb then pressed whether Harry missed seeing his older brother Prince William or their father Prince Charles.
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Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, attends the indoor rowing event during the Invictus Games on April 20, 2022, in The Hague, Netherlands.
(Chris Jackson/Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation)
“For me, at the moment, I’m here, focused on these guys and these families,” he said. “When I go back, the focus is my family, who I miss massively.”
The queen, as well as William, 39, and Charles, 73, have not met Harry’s daughter Lilibet, who was born last June.
Before his televised interview, Harry stressed that it was important to recognize the sacrifices made by service members and their families.
“Being a dad certainly adds another emotional layer to it,” the father of two told People magazine for this week’s cover story. “When I was in the army, I promised myself I would be out before having a wife and kids because I couldn’t imagine the heartache of being apart for so long during deployment, the risk of possibly getting injured and the reality that my family’s lives could be changed forever if that happened.”
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Prince Harry during his deployment in the Helmand province, Afghanistan Feb. 18 2008.
(John Stillwell/Pool/Tim Graham Picture Library/Getty Images)
Harry served in the British Army for 10 years, including two tours in Afghanistan. Harry founded the Invictus Games to aid the rehabilitation of injured or sick military service members and veterans by giving them the chance, and the challenge, to compete in sports events similar to the Paralympics.
The royal told the outlet that he’s eager to eventually bring his children to the Invictus Games. Harry noted that he already introduced the competition to his son who “absolutely loved it.”
“I showed him how some [competitors] were missing legs and explained that some had invisible injuries, too,” he shared. “Not because he asked, but because I wanted to tell him. Kids understand so much, and to see it through his eyes was amazing because it’s so unfiltered and honest.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s trip to the Netherlands marked their first public appearance since stepping back as senior members of the British royal family two years ago.
MEGHAN MARKLE, PRINCE HARRY HIRE FORMER OBAMA, BUSH BODYGUARD: REPORT
For his protection, Prince Harry hired Christopher Sanchez, a former bodyguard to George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
(Samir Hussein/WireImage)
In February, lawyers for Harry told a court hearing that he was unwilling to bring his children to his homeland because it is not safe. The prince launched a legal challenge to the U.K. government’s refusal to let him personally pay for police protection in Britain.
At the time, Harry’s legal team said he wants to bring his son Archie and daughter Lilibet to his home country from the United States but thinks it would be too risky without police protection.
Senior members of Britain’s royal family are given taxpayer-funded police protection, but Harry lost that when he and Markle stepped down as working royals and moved to the United States in 2020. The couple said their decision was due to what they described as unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media.
Harry noted that his private security team in the U.S. doesn’t have adequate jurisdiction abroad or access to U.K. intelligence information.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex reside in California with their son Archie and daughter Lilibet.
(Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
During a hearing at the High Court in London, Harry’s lawyer, Shaheed Fatima, said the prince “does not feel safe when he is in the U.K. given the security arrangements applied to him.”
“It goes without saying that he does want to come back to see family and friends and to continue to support the charities that are so close to his heart,” she said. “Most of all, this is and always will be, his home.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
