Prince Harry of England and his wife, Meghan Markle, have a lot of work ahead of them in terms of reconciliations. Their upcoming return to the United Kingdom “for an extended period of time,” after living six years in the United States, has been met with a mix of surprise, skepticism, hostility, and irony following the news on Wednesday night, reported by People magazine and The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
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The decision has unsettled King Charles III and, above all, the heir apparent, Prince William of England, who continues to maintain a firm distance from his younger brother. Harry’s popularity among the British remains very low. Only 27% of them show any sympathy towards him. And even fewer, 18%, appreciate Meghan Markle. The couple is slightly above the much-criticized former Prince Andrew in the citizens’ preferences.
“Something like this creates a crisis in the monarchy, but the institution usually has poor responses when it doesn’t know what to expect. And it’s clear that a situation like this means anything could happen,” said Richard Fitzwilliams, consultant and expert on British royal affairs, to the Daily Mail newspaper, regarding the return of the Sussexes.
Surprise… and no change
Charles III barely found out last Sunday, despite the fact that Prince Harry had the opportunity to inform his father of his plans when the Sussexes and their two children spent a few days this July with the king and queen at their private residence in Highgrove. Buckingham Palace has preferred to overlook the discourtesy, although its silence as a response implies a double message: the monarch is happy to be able to see more of his son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren privately; and nothing will change regarding the decision that the prince and his wife continue to be considered mere private citizens, without any public representation role like other members of the royal family — as agreed after their departure in 2020.
The media, however, have welcomed the decision as a celebration that anticipates glorious headlines once again. The return of Harry and Meghan, along with little Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, has flooded the front pages, accompanied by analyses with more questions than answers and opinion columns.
There is interest in where they will live, and everything suggests it will be outside London, in the affluent areas of the Cotswolds or Northampton. There is interest in when they will arrive, and the information that they have already enrolled the children in a London school points to September: the school year in the UK begins in the second week of that month. But above all, there is interest in why. When Harry lost in May 2025 in the courts his battle against the British Home Office, which he claimed should provide him and his family with the security that other royal family members receive when on British soil, he said at the time that “he did not envision a world in which he could return with his wife and children to the United Kingdom.”
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What has changed? Several things, experts say. In July, the Sussexes also spent a few days with Harry’s maternal family, the Spencers, and the experience has apparently been pleasant. Lady Di’s siblings have provided a friendly environment for the couple and their children, and probably the perfect excuse to make the leap back to Europe without giving up their status as private citizens.
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The children’s education in a British environment would also have weighed on the decision. As well as the health condition of Charles III, who still needs to monitor a cancer that may have remitted but still requires thorough control. “I would love a reconciliation with my family. It makes no sense to keep fighting. Life is too precious,” the prince said in May last year during an interview with the BBC. “I love my country, I have always loved it, despite what some people from that country have done… and I think it is very sad that I won’t be able to show my children my homeland,” he lamented then.
The Sussexes’ protection
He had just lost his last appeal against the decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Public Figures and Royalty (RAVEC, in its English acronym, dependent on the Home Office) to deny him and his family taxpayer-funded protection when visiting the United Kingdom. The decision to return, however, opens the possibility of reconsidering that decision, and something must be moving in that direction, suggest some experts on the inner workings of the Windsors, although the British government has avoided any comment on the matter. “It is a private matter that concerns only Harry and Meghan. We wish them the best on their return to the United Kingdom,” Prime Minister Andy Burnham limited himself to saying this Wednesday.
The couple’s maneuvers are always scrutinized by a part of a country that remains resentful about the abrupt way they fled to California, or about the continuous attacks on the royal family, which they even accused of being racist. However, suggestions that the return could be motivated by tax reasons are not very solid. They have not spent the ten years required outside the United Kingdom that would grant the prince a “non-domiciled” tax status, and in the case of his wife, the U.S. tax authorities will continue to collect a portion of her income, regardless of its source.
They have both renewed a multi-year contract with Netflix for the production of series and documentaries. But the new terms or figures of the agreement are unknown, although it has emerged that they are considerably lower and more flexible than the hundred million dollars they signed in 2022, during their first collaboration with the streaming platform.
The goal of the British tabloids and much of the mainstream press will now be to closely follow the meetings and clashes of the two brothers, who will find it more difficult to avoid each other on the same home soil. “In the long term, the Sussexes’ return opens the prospect of two rival courts, William’s and Harry’s. In the short term, Harry will be able to deepen the reunion with his father, but at the same time, his presence will make it increasingly difficult for his brother to avoid a reconciliation. It is likely that this surprise return has infuriated the heir apparent,” said Peter Hunt, the former BBC royal correspondent.
