After 19 months of estrangement, the Duke of Sussex finally had the moment he had been waiting for — a face-to-face reunion with his father. Prince Harry was driven through the gates of Clarence House at 5:20 p.m. to meet King Charles, who had returned from Balmoral just hours earlier.

The private meeting, reportedly over tea, had been in discussion for some time, though both sides had remained tight-lipped about whether it would actually take place. Only after Harry’s car was seen leaving Clarence House at 6:14 p.m., with the Duke ducking low in the back seat, did Buckingham Palace confirm that the reunion had indeed happened.

Early signs suggest the meeting went well. When asked about his father shortly afterward at an Invictus Games event, Harry simply said: “Yes, he’s great, thank you.”

This long-awaited encounter marks the first real opportunity for Harry to begin mending the deep rift with his family. For reconciliation to succeed, however, trust will be key — particularly the King’s trust that their private conversations will remain just that.

Harry’s decision to share intimate details of royal life in interviews and in his memoir Spare created a painful distance between him and the rest of the family, especially with the Prince of Wales. The King, still undergoing treatment for cancer, had reportedly refrained from engaging with his son while Harry’s legal battle with the Home Office over security was ongoing.

But once Harry lost that case, the road to a potential rapprochement became clearer. The chances of a reunion grew stronger when King Charles’s communications secretary, Tobyn Andreae, was spotted meeting Harry’s Archewell representatives, Meredith Maines and Liam Maguire, back in July.

Although father and son have had minimal contact over the past year and a half, one royal source emphasized that “the door was never completely shut.”

At the WellChild Awards earlier this week, Harry appeared more relaxed and upbeat than he has in years, reportedly focusing on the future rather than the past.

Perhaps this brief but significant meeting signals a turning point. As Harry himself reflected earlier this year: “There’s no point continuing to fight anymore — life is precious.”