Call it a royal reset, a dramatic “freedom flight” reversal, or simply the Sussexes’ latest surprise move: Harry and Meghan’s reported decision to return to Britain marks another highly sensitive chapter for the British monarchy.
Publicly, there were warm words overnight suggesting the King would, of course, welcome the chance to spend more time with the Sussex family in a private, personal setting. Privately, however, few doubt that the development is being met in parts of royal circles with considerable unease.
It is one matter for King Charles to rebuild ties with his younger son quietly, with an ocean between them. It is quite another for Harry, Meghan and their children to be suddenly back on British soil, effectively on the royal doorstep, at a time when family relationships remain fragile.
The news, said to have been carefully briefed by Team Sussex to a select group of sympathetic journalists in Britain and overseas, has already sent speculation racing in every direction. Online, it has triggered a fresh burst of hostility over what critics claim is His Majesty’s role in facilitating Prince Harry’s return, particularly in light of the position of the heir to the throne.
The King has been branded weak and easily led by some, while others have somehow reached the contradictory conclusion that he is operating in close coordination with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
The row has also prompted unseemly conjecture about King Charles’s health, including suggestions that Harry may be seeking to strengthen his standing before circumstances change.
For clarity, while the King’s cancer treatment has at times been demanding, doctors are understood to be very pleased with his progress. His treatment has been significantly reduced and is currently being given on a precautionary basis.
Royal sources have also dismissed renewed claims that Sir Clive Alderton, the King’s influential private secretary to the King and Queen, is stepping down because he opposed any reconciliation with the Sussexes. One insider described the suggestion as “another mad conspiracy theory”.
Indeed, I can reveal that Sir Clive was actually integral to last month’s meeting between Harry and his father, despite being the victim of so much of the prince’s ire in recent years.
The bombshell decision by Harry and Meghan to move back to Britain heralds another supremely tricky moment for the British monarchy, writes Rebecca English
There has been a deafening silence from the Prince and Princess of Wales
The news has sparked distasteful speculation about King Charles’s health and whether Harry has taken a decision to ‘shore up’ his position before it is too late
And yet it seems quite remarkable, does it not, that Harry brought his family to meet with his father for the first time in four years at Highgrove in early July and never thought even to mention that this plan was even on his radar?
But that, my sources insist, is the truth of it. Not once was the issue raised or discussed, they say. And the move has now been presented to the sovereign as a fait accompli.
It seems even stranger if what another source has told me is true: that Meghan privately visited two potential schools in the Cotswolds region for Archie and Lilibet during their visit here – and they had already earmarked a potential home belonging to a celebrity (for the record, I have not been able to independently verify either of these claims).
So while Harry has made no secret of his desire to spend more time in the UK moving forwards, it’s fair to say that this week’s news that a wholesale return to his country of birth will happen within days – a place which, not so long ago, he was arguing was too dangerous to bring his family to at all – has come as a huge shock to the wider royal household.
Reactions range from the amused (downright hilarity at the claim that Harry and Meghan have just proved their ‘half in/ half out’ model of monarchy can work… ‘surely their return is proof that it hasn’t!’), to the fearful.
Sources have scoffed at renewed claims that the King’s right-hand man, Sir Clive Alderton, is leaving as private secretary because of his opposition to any reunion
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the Sussexes’ announcement, and there was an equally deafening silence from Kensington Palace.
Indeed, sources have long made clear the Waleses have no interest in engaging with anything Harry and Meghan do or say.
Meanwhile, there is a concern that back in the UK and in such close proximity to working members of the Royal Family, every move by the Sussexes will be dissected for the slightest hint of a return to official roles and provide a constant distraction to the real working royals’ public labours.
For the avoidance of doubt, sources insist, the couple will not be undertaking any royal duties. The King, they say, is absolutely adamant on this.
His only interest is protecting and prioritising what’s right for the monarchy and, particularly, what is right for his relationship with the Prince of Wales, says a friend.
The Waleses are working royals and future monarchs. Harry and Meghan are not. And William’s feelings must and will be respected, I am told.
Needless to say, the Prince of Wales – currently holidaying with his family and the King at Balmoral – has no desire whatsoever to reconcile will his brother, as it stands. And few can blame him.
Other family members have long memories when it comes to Harry’s behaviour, particularly the disrespect they feel he showed to the late Queen and her husband, Prince Philip, in their latter years. And they may well be reluctant to play happy families again.
There are others in royal circles with personal experience of dealing with the Sussexes who say they just can’t shake the feeling ‘there is more to this than we know’. ‘There always is with them,’ one sighed.
There is also concern among some over the couple setting up some sort of ‘rival court’ to Buckingham and Kensington Palaces.
Since quitting royal duties, Harry, in particular, has become increasingly strident in his public announcements, even attacking US President Donald Trump just days before the monarch’s high-profile State Visit to the US earlier this year.
It is one thing for him to do this from the other side of the Atlantic when he has an arm’s-length relationship with his father, but quite another to take such pot shots from the bosom of the family again, with the potential for damaging diplomatic fall-out.
Yet the Palace believes people will understand that while Charles is a king and a sovereign, he is also a father and a grandfather, and it is possible for him to clearly delineate between the two.
A friend insists: ‘The King welcomes the opportunity to see more of his family but beyond that, his stance could not be more clear [when it comes to their public roles]. Nothing has changed.’
The difficulty, however, is that many fear – and would firmly object to – their closer proximity to the monarchy being used either as a backdoor entry by the Sussexes to public life, or as a way of burnishing their commercial credentials.
It is a tightrope the King and senior officials have no choice now but to tread.
