Prince Harry and family meet King Charles: UK media

King Charles III and his wife Camilla on Friday met his son Prince Harry, his wife Meghan and their two children for the first time in four years, British media reported.

The PA news agency and several media outlets said Harry's family had travelled from an unspecified destination in Europe for the meeting at Highgrove, Charles's private residence in southwestern England.

Harry arrived in the UK on Monday in a visit to mark the one-year countdown to next year's Invictus Games for wounded veterans, which he founded.

Meghan, seven-year-old son Archie and daughter Lilibet, 5, were initially set to miss the trip -- reportedly because they were refused police protection.

Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.

Harry and Meghan have lived in California since 2020 and the children had not seen their grandfather since 2022.

On Tuesday, Harry and other high-profile figures lost a court case they had brought against the UK's Daily Mail tabloid in which they had accused it of unlawful information gathering.

He will now face another court hearing on July 29-30, which could see him and the six other complainants ordered to pay substantial legal costs.

The prince gave emotional testimony during the proceedings in which several high-profile figures, including singer Elton John and actor Elizabeth Hurley, accused the tabloid publisher of invading their privacy.

The case, the third and final one brought by the Duke of Sussex in his acrimonious legal battle with British tabloids, has further strained relations with the royal family.

Harry, 41, has also been involved in other legal spats, including over his police protection in Britain following his dramatic departure from front-line royal duties six years ago.

Harry and Meghan left Britain for North America in 2020 amid a bitter feud with his family, which worsened as Harry published his tell-all memoir "Spare".

He subsequently said he wanted to reconcile with his father.

But even the run-up to his current trip has been rocked by setbacks, with media outlets quoting sources close to Harry as saying the prince would be staying at Buckingham Palace in London -- only for the palace to issue a denial.

The palace said Harry had not accepted the invitation to stay at the official residence of the British sovereign sufficiently far in advance.

Harry has long blamed the media for the death of his mother Princess Diana, who was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997 while trying to shake off the paparazzi.

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© Agence France-Presse