AMANDA PLATELL: My heart longs for Harry to heal the rift with his father and brother. But this is why my mind tells me it will never happen…

My immediate reaction to the news Prince Harry plans to return from California to be at his father's bedside: There is at least one silver lining to the grim news of the King's cancer.

Perhaps it would mean that the wounds between father and son – and even between warring brothers – could finally heal. After all, conflicted families often come together when one of their members faces a terrifying medical diagnosis.

Family unity must surely be the king's greatest wish – remember his desperate plea to the warring brothers after Prince Philip's funeral: 'Please, boys, don't make my last years a misery.'

How wonderful it would be if the bitterness between Princes William and Harry could disappear in these most difficult circumstances. When they united in a common cause of love and care for their father.

Prince Harry arrives at Clarence House this afternoon to meet his father, King Charles

Harry and Meghan walk behind senior royals at a Commonwealth service in London in 2020

Despite the King's closest aides recently admitting that his relationship with his youngest son was now 'firmly rooted at rock bottom' – with rapprochement 'still a long way off' – I dared to hope that Charles' cancer diagnosis, devastating as it was is, at the very least, bring the lost lamb back into the fold.

But then reality set in and I thought to myself, 'How exactly would it work?' How could the family forgive and forget all the wrongs Harry did to them?

He screwed them over in the cruelest ways imaginable, accusing them of emotional neglect and even racism (although they subsequently denied this was the case). How can he be accepted again if he has not seen his father and family in the nine months since his fleeting visit for the coronation?

How would scheduling family visits actually work while Charles is undergoing treatment or recovering? And what about Camilla? I imagine the Queen will be the gatekeeper deciding who sees her husband where and when. And yet, in his book Spare – for which he received a $20 million advance – Harry described her as a “dangerous villain” who leaked damaging stories about him to improve her own reputation; he said she was someone who “sacrificed me on her own personal PR altar.” Who could blame her if Harry is the least of her worries?

As for William, who in Spare accused Harry of knocking him to the ground in a red mist of rage and who is described in his book as his 'arch-enemy': can a reconciliation ever take place?

Then there's the Princess of Wales, whom the Sussexes' unofficial biographer and mouthpiece, Omid Scobie, described as “cold, a Stepford-esque royal woman.” And to whom Harry also seems to have obliquely – and cuttingly – referred to in Spare: 'I think for so many people in the royal family, and especially for men, there can be a temptation or urge to marry someone who is in the picture fits. to someone you may have been meant to be with.”

How could Kate bear to be in the same room as Harry – let alone sitting next to Charles' bed next to him – especially after both she and the king were named by Scobie in his book Endgame as the “racists” who allegedly 'expressed concern about Harry's skin'? color of baby Archie'.

There must be deep resentment not just from Camilla, William and Kate, but also from Anne, Edward and Sophie over Harry's behaviour, says Amanda Platell

What a stab in the heart it would be if Kate happened to visit her father-in-law – who describes her as 'my beloved daughter-in-law' – and bumped into an angry Harry.

So in some ways it must come as a huge relief to all working royals that Harry's visit will likely be short-lived. He plans to be in Canada with Meghan next week ahead of his Invictus Games, an event he can rightly be proud of. It was surely Meghan's wisest decision to stay home this time, with emotions running so high in the family.

There must be deep resentment, not only among Camilla, William and Kate, but also among Anne, Edward and Sophie about Harry's behavior. It is they who have remained steadfast and loyal to the king's side. Those who will soon work hard to fulfill the King's public obligations and keep the Company afloat.

Oh, how different it would have been if Harry was still here as a working royal, sharing the burden. But he isn't,

That's why, even though my heart longs for a rapprochement during Harry's fleeting return, my head tells me it will never happen.