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It’s been just over a month since Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, made their long-awaited return to the UK where they enjoyed a royal reunion with King Charles – and now there are plans afoot for a repeat performance on Harry’s part.
Roya Nikkah, royal editor of the Sunday Times, reported that the Duke of Sussex will be back in his birth country as early as September, as he takes part in a string of engagements for the charity WellChild and his Invictus Games project.
“The template for his visits has been working well, so the frequency of trips will increase, especially in the run-up to Invictus – which he’s determined to make the best games yet,” a source close to Harry told the royal expert.
“So he’ll be coming back and forth a lot more, every few months. He wants more and more of a foothold here, more trips back, less courtroom drama. And he always loves seeing his family.”
The news has raised a series of important questions among royal watchers, with Tom Sykes – the man behind The Royalist substack – putting it succinctly in his newsletter.
“Will Charles and Camilla receive him again? Will Meghan and the kids come along for the ride?” the asks. “Would it be another clandestine meeting, iPhones confiscated on arrival and with the Sussexes sworn to eternal secrecy?”
Such a reception would be one that is “never going to satisfy Harry, let alone his wife”, Sykes declares. “He wants to rebuild his royal career, or at least fashion something resembling it, not to be treated as a family pariah…”
But alas, that’s where Harry hits a stumbling block with his new plan. For, longterm, it’s not just his father that the errant Duke needs to win over.
Key to Harry’s ultimate return to the embrace of his home country is his brother and heir to the throne Prince William and his wife Kate, Princess of Wales.
And Sykes explains “there’s no sign of any olive branches being offered from that quarter however much Charles would like to see his sons reconciled”.
“William felt profoundly, absolutely, unforgivably betrayed by his brother’s decision to spill all on their private lives in his best-selling ghostwritten memoir Spare, and in the interviews he did to promote it,” the expert explains.
A royal insider tells Woman’s Day that Harry is hoping to use his next UK trip to pitch a new arrangement for himself and Meghan to his father – and that’s sparked a reaction from William.
“William has been pressing [Charles] for more details, but His Majesty’s stance is that it’s simply none of his business at this point,” the source explains.
“He feels William has been incredibly hot-headed about the situation and wants to give Harry the chance to outline what he’s after.
“The King can always say no, and he feels perfectly capable of making that decision without his eldest son’s interference.”
The insider claims Charles is willing to hear out his son, and there is an expectation that Harry will want to reopen discussions about what role he could possibly have within the family.
“His vision is still this half in, half out, arrangement that his grandmother said they couldn’t have,” the source says.
“He feels his father can revisit that and perhaps see more clearly why it might actually be a positive thing for the institution as a whole.”
But the mole has a word of warning for the hopeful prince.
“There are no promises being made about what the King will or won’t agree to, but the fact that this is even on the table has William feeling massively betrayed.”
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