Whatever else is said about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, one thing is certain: they still know how to dominate the headlines. Reports that Prince Harry, Meghan and their children could trade the sunshine of California for life back in Britain landed with genuine surprise.
After all, it was only in May last year that Harry told the BBC, in notably firm language, that he could not imagine “a world” in which he would bring his wife and children back to the UK.
If this is indeed a change of direction, it is a dramatic one. But with the Sussexes, past statements have often had a way of being revisited, reinterpreted or flatly contradicted.
There was, for instance, the claim of a private wedding ceremony in their garden before the televised royal wedding, said to have been overseen by the Archbishop of Canterbury — a version later clarified as not being legally binding. Then there was Harry’s insistence that he and Meghan had not accused the Royal Family of racism, despite their televised interview with Oprah Winfrey in which they discussed remarks about their son’s skin tone, later framed by some as an issue of “unconscious bias.”
Meghan also told Oprah that there had been discussions suggesting Archie would not be made a prince. Yet under royal convention at the time, he was the great-grandchild of the monarch and was not automatically entitled to that style until after Queen Elizabeth II’s death. In other words, it was a matter of established protocol rather than an exceptional slight.
Harry’s memoir, Spare, brought further scrutiny when he wrote that he was at Eton when a courtier phoned to tell him the Queen Mother had died. Contemporary reports later placed him in Klosters, Switzerland, on a skiing trip with his father at the time.
These are only a handful of examples, but they help explain why the latest apparent reversal may not shock seasoned royal watchers quite as much as it first appears.
So, it seems, Britain is no longer being cast as the gilded cage from which Prince Harry and Meghan once made such a high-profile escape in pursuit of peace and freedom. Instead, the UK may once again be presented as a possible home for the Sussex family.
It’s no secret that there is no love lost between Harry and his brother William, or their respective wives, Catherine and Meghan (pictured together in 2022 at Elizabeth II’s funeral)
As the tectonic plates of the monarchy shift and a new royal topography emerges, Harry risks being left high and dry, writes Sarah Vine
No matter that they’ve shredded the Royal Family’s reputation; no matter that they’ve characterised the British Press and public as ‘toxic’. They’re coming home, whether we like it or not. And woe betide anyone who complains.
Or dares to question their motives. Ostensibly, they are doing this so the children can benefit from a British education and get to know their extended family. But we all know there is more, much more to it than that.
It’s not just that all those lucrative contracts have melted away, leaving little but jam and flower sprinkles in their wake. It’s also that the couple’s status as royals – so important since without it he is really just a balding middle-aged man with very little experience of real work or life and she is just a retired soap actress – is a fast-depreciating asset.
They need to re-establish their royal credentials, and how better to do it than to plug straight back into the source: Britain, and the great British public. In the US they were small fish in a big pond; here, they will be big fish with plenty of opportunities to ingratiate themselves. Mark my words, there will be a charm offensive. Who knows, we might even get to see the children’s faces.
Cynical? Perhaps. But to my mind there’s an even more self-serving reason they’re coming home: FOMO. Fear of missing out.
When the Sussexes left, they were arguably the Royal Family’s most popular asset. A lot of people thought their departure would damage the institution in the eyes of the public.
But the opposite happened. As one by one the embittered pair lobbed their truth bombs across the Atlantic, people began to sympathise with the beleaguered royals back home. Many felt that, while Harry had some grounds for complaint, he went too far in pursuing satisfaction.
Everything now depends on King Charles’s response. He is in an impossible (and heartbreaking) position, says our columnist
They badly miscalculated – and instead of being diminished by their absence, the remaining royals have actually flourished. The whole saga seems to have brought them closer together, created a more tight-knit unit. They’ve faced the Andrew crisis together; they’ve weathered ill health together.
There has been a real sense of a family united, and it has served them well. Harry and Meghan, meanwhile, have seemed increasingly embittered.
But the sad truth remains: King Charles is not a well man. That older generation of royals is fading and new faces are emerging. And as the tectonic plates of the monarchy shift and a new royal topography emerges, Harry risks being left high and dry. Had he and the duchess made a roaring success of their American escapade, this might not matter. But they did not. They’ve run out of road, and they need to turn back.
We all hope and pray that the King will lead a long life like his parents but, sadly, that may not come to pass. If, when that moment is upon us, Harry and his family were still in self-imposed exile across the pond, they might have found the way back into the royal fold was barred for good, or at the very least made much harder.
It’s no secret that there is no love lost between Harry and his brother William, future king, or their respective wives. Theirs is a deep, complex rift that has developed over the course of the past decade, starting when Prince William first sounded a note of caution about his brother’s romance with the then Ms Markle.
The pair even came to blows when, later on, bullying allegations arose against the duchess (which she vehemently denies), and William confronted his brother.
According to Harry’s own account, the Prince of Wales called the duchess ‘difficult’, ‘rude’ and ‘abrasive’, which he (Harry) took to be a ‘parrot[ing of] the press narrative’. He then writes that William ‘grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and . . . knocked me to the floor’.
That was just the start of it. Bit by bit, the brothers have drifted in opposite directions to the point where Prince William is now reportedly ‘apoplectic’ about this latest turn of events, with insiders claiming the Waleses were completely ‘blindsided’ by the announcement.
In other words, if Harry wants to get his snout back into the royal trough, he has to do it while his father is on the throne. Otherwise, there is no guarantee.
From William’s point of view, this is an obvious land grab, made all the more frustrating since the Prince and Princess of Wales have always behaved impeccably in fulfilling their royal duties, whereas Harry and Meghan have not. The idea that his little brother is just going to swan back in and steal his thunder – which, given the nature of the personalities involved, is inevitable – must be enraging. It really is Cain and Abel.
What’s worse, there is every chance that, with the help of old allies and Harry’s uncle, Charles Spencer, the duke and duchess will swiftly establish some sort of rival court in the Cotswolds, where they reportedly plan to settle.
With the children at school, they will find new charities and causes to occupy their time and it won’t take long before a pseudo-royal ecosystem begins to form around them – one unencumbered by protocol and precedence.
Everything now depends on King Charles’s response. He is in an impossible (and heartbreaking) position, as any parent who has ever had to arbitrate between warring siblings will understand. Plus, of course, he is still receiving treatment for cancer. I can’t even begin to imagine how exhausted he must be by it all.
Once again, Harry proves that nothing and no one will stand in his way.
