Prince Charles has carried out his first public duty since the explosive claims aired by Harry and Meghan’s in Sunday’s Oprah Winfrey interview.
The Prince of Wales was pictured at Jesus House church in north London to see an NHS vaccine pop-up clinic in action.
He appeared in good spirts as he thanked people involved in the rollout.
Buckingham Palace has still not responded to the interview, which included allegations that comments were made about the colour of the Sussexes’ son Archie’s skin before he was born.
Winfrey told US channel CBS, which aired the interview on Sunday, the couple were not prepared to publicly reveal who made the comments but said they weren’t made by the Queen or Prince Philip.
During the interview which was shown in the UK the next day, Harry revealed he felt “really let down” by how his father handled his decision with his wife to leave the country and quit royal duties.
He admitted that the pair have been estranged but that he hopes to “heal” the relationship.
Harry said while in Canada, where they decided to quit their royal duties, he had “three conversations with my grandmother and two conversations with my father, before he stopped taking my calls”.
He said Charles asked for him to put his plan “in writing”, adding: “I put all the specifics in there, even the fact that we were planning on putting the announcement out on the 7th of January.”
Asked why his father had stopped taking his calls, Harry said: “Because I took matters… by that point I’d took matters into my own hands.
“It was, like, I needed to do this for my family. This is not a surprise to anybody. It’s really sad that it’s got to this point.”
When Oprah asked if Charles was now taking his calls, Harry said “yes” – suggesting they are now on speaking terms.
The Duke of Sussex also said he believed his father and brother are “trapped” in royal life and will never be able to escape.
Divided opinion
Opinion among the general public in the UK following the interview was mixed. A YouGov poll, carried out before the show was aired in full on British television, asked people whether they thought the interview was appropriate or inappropriate.
Some 47% said it was inappropriate, while 21% said it was appropriate and 31% didn’t know.
People were also asked how much sympathy they have for Harry and Meghan – 12% said a lot, 17% a fair amount, 23% said not very much, 33% none at all, and 15% didn’t know.
And they were asked how much sympathy they have for senior members of the Royal Family – some 16% said a lot, 23% said a fair amount, 25% said not very much, 20% said none at all, and 16% did not know.