Two weeks ago, Prince Harry was wrapping up his fourth day of events in Britain and he was about to head to Ukraine. Harry also had a meeting with his father, and he ended up giving an interview to the Guardian while in Ukraine. For Prince William, all of Harry’s events were some kind of breaking point. William has been panicked and enraged ever since, and even his most loyal royalists have suggested (in so many words) that he basically had a nervous breakdown over Harry’s visit. I tend to believe that Kensington Palace has tried to manipulate the situation and make it sound like “sources close to Harry” are briefing the Daily Mail about Harry’s big plans to “come back.” The goal with those pieces is to make it seem like Harry is going against King Charles’s explicit instructions not to leak or brief anything (we know about these instructions because Charles’s camp briefed the press about them). All of which to say, if you’ve been listening to what Harry has actually been saying for years, you already know where he stands and what he wants. But British journalists love to restate the obvious and wrap it up as an exclusive. Behold, Hannah Furness at the Telegraph had a lengthy piece about “Prince Harry’s plan to rebuild his role in Britain.” Some highlights:
The two things that shifted this month: In fact, two things can be said more-or-less with certainty: first, that Prince Harry will be coming back to Britain more and more regularly. And, second, the King is willing to be seen reconnecting with his youngest son after a period of 19 months in which the two did not see each other face-to-face. There is a goal, some say, for the monarch to make an appearance at the Invictus Games, the tournament for wounded military personnel founded by Harry, when it takes place in Birmingham in 2027, in a picture-perfect show of reconciliation.
Suspicions about Harry: But, to say there are suspicions about the Duke’s motives in some quarters is an understatement. Quotes from anonymous sources – frequent in the world of royal reporting – containing pointed digs about his brother Prince William have raised alarm bells. (Harry’s visit to the UK earlier this month, a source in the Daily Mail said, “was to remind William that Harry can be there to take some of the load off, given some of the criticism William has received for carrying out a lower number of engagements than his father”.) Long-term royal watchers here in Britain have raised eyebrows at said sources sowing “seeds of discontent” between the royal households, in an unwelcome return to the shadowy media briefings Prince Harry has so often said he loathes.
Harry has literally never said he wants to come back full-time: Allies of Prince Harry deny that he wants any full return to his homeland, pointing out that he is happy in California. The issue of whether he would be a working royal was “put to bed” years ago, one said. After Oprah, Netflix, Spare and various forays into the world of podcasting and e-commerce jam, the Sussexes seem settled in the world of Californian celebrity. The working royals, meanwhile, trudge on with engagements on any given wet Wednesday back in Britain, punctuated by cancer treatment, speeches to the nation and visiting Trumps.
Harry loves California: “There’s no move to want to be back in the institution,” one source close to Prince Harry says. “He’s genuinely very happy in California. His wife and kids are there; his life is there.”
Harry’s big plan: He is, however, going to come back two or three times a year, potentially quarterly, the source adds, for multi-day trips following the pattern of the last one: engagements with his old patronages and the organisations with which he has kept in touch. “He would love to come back to the UK more,” says the source. “You couldn’t drag him away from attending the Wellchild Awards [as Harry did during the trip earlier this month]. [His plans are] driven by the causes that he supports – if they say, ‘We’d really like you to come over, we’re doing this thing’, he will try to make it work. It’s driven by the requests. He would love to do as much as possible.”
Remembrance Sunday & Eton: As a military veteran, the Duke will do something to mark Remembrance Sunday, though will not be at the Cenotaph with the working Royal family. Rumours that his children will be educated in Britain are “categorically not true”. Any plans for working trips to Britain would fit around his day-to-day life in California, where he is busy raising two small children; in other words, they won’t come to dominate his schedule for the foreseeable future.
His work behind the scenes: “A lot of stuff happens behind the scenes that people don’t see,” says a source familiar with Harry’s diary. “He speaks to patronages weekly – emails, calls, zoom.” He has taken recent trips to Angola, with the Halo Trust, and China, with Travalyst, his eco-tourism company.
Why Harry & Charles didn’t meet in Scotland: There are also health warnings on the extent of any “reconciliation” with the King. The more cynical in royal circles point to the formality of their meeting at Clarence House, conspicuously scheduled in between official meetings and lasting for just 54 minutes. “It’s no Birkhall,” says one, referring to the King’s cosier and more private Scottish home. “It’s a test,” warns another bluntly, predicting that courtiers will be keeping a close eye on what Harry says about his father in any interviews, after the Prince was finally trusted to speak to him.
This is one of Charles’s big asks: It is understood that there is no formal agreement drawn up between the Sussexes and Buckingham Palace about a path forward, despite reports that the Duke and Duchess would “deconflict” their diary with the working royals. The fact that they did not do anything in public during the recent US state visit was out of straightforward “respect for [his] dad”, claims one source, who sees “no conflict” between Harry’s projects and official royal work.
William & Charles’s trip to Scotland: After visiting bereaved families in Southport on Tuesday, William flew to Scotland where he will spend an informal few days with his father privately. It is the third year they have taken a father-and-son mini-break in Balmoral; not diarised with senior staff, but set aside to chat as sovereign and heir.
Some people want Charles to make Harry’s role clearer: Others would like the King to make Harry’s lack of an official role clearer, with fears that the public will not see the nuance of a 41-year-old man undertaking what looks like his old royal engagements, while also making a living under the title of Prince and Duke elsewhere. For those who remain fond of Prince Harry, despite disapproving of some of his decisions, a toeing of the line would suffice: as long as he does not drag the Royal family into further drama, the theory goes, there is a world where everyone can live with it.
A few things that caught my eye: “It’s driven by the requests. He would love to do as much as possible.” As in, there are still British charities requesting Harry’s presence and inviting him to do work for them in the UK. That’s amazing. And this: “The more cynical in royal circles point to the formality of their meeting at Clarence House” and “it’s not Birkhall” – the Windsors are obsessed with trying to get Harry alone in Scotland, it’s bizarre and unsettling. I would imagine that Charles probably did invite Harry to come to Scotland (Charles has done so in the past) but Harry refused. Clarence House was probably the compromise. “With fears that the public will not see the nuance of a 41-year-old man undertaking what looks like his old royal engagements…” Charity work is not royal work. Y’all sound like morons every time you insist that it’s super-confusing for Harry to work with charities.
Lastly, I’m actually mad at Harry for agreeing to Charles’s big ask about coordinating their schedules. If Charles wanted a say in the Sussexes’ schedules, Charles should have fought for the “half-in” solution. I certainly hope Meghan doesn’t feel the need to coordinate jacksh-t with those people, and Harry shouldn’t keep to that dumb, controlling agreement either.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
