The Archbishop of Canterbury addresses Royal Family rift: 'They need to be prayed for'

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is opening up about reconciliation amid the Royal Family's rumored feud.

In an interview for "Good Morning Britain," the senior bishop of the Church of England spoke out about the rumored royal rift between the family's senior working members versus Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan.

"We must not judge them. They're human beings, they must not be judged. They need to be prayed for and supported," Welby, 68, told "GMB" correspondent Jonathan Swain.

The comments come amid reports that Prince Harry and King Charles III will not reunite while the Duke of Sussex is in London this week.

Prince Harry is currently in London to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Invictus Games, which he brought to London in 2014.

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"In response to the many inquiries and continued speculation on whether or not The Duke will meet with his father while in the UK this week, it unfortunately will not be possible due to His Majesty's full programme," a spokesperson for Prince Harry told USA TODAY in a statement Tuesday. "The Duke of course is understanding of his father's diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon."

Buckingham Palace did not respond to USA TODAY's earlier requests for comment.

The father-son pair did have a private reunion after the king was diagnosed with "a form of cancer" in February. Before the announcement, the monarch was hospitalized and underwent a procedure for benign prostate enlargement in January. The cancer was identified via diagnostic tests after a "separate issue of concern was noted."

In a 2021 interview on CBS with Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan opened up about why they decided to leave their roles as working members of the Royal Family. In the interview, Duchess Meghan said she considered committing suicide due to stress from media coverage and recounted a rift with sister-in-law Princess Kate over a dress her nieces would wear at her wedding to Prince Harry.

"She made me cry. It hurt my feelings," she said, confirming that the subject was flower-girl dresses. "But it was a really hard week before the wedding. She was upset and apologized and brought flowers and wrote a note. I've forgiven her. What's hard to get over is that I was being blamed for something I didn't do but happened to me."

Contributing: Naledi Ushe