Palace insider:
As rumours grow that Prince Harry and wife Meghan are preparing to visit the UK, former royal butler Paul Burrell reveals the depths of the frosty reception that awaits them and why Prince William and Kate hold the cards to their future with The Firm
“Harry and Meghan’s fate is in William and Kate’s hands”
Their relationship with the royal family has been fractured since they left for America, with a spate of interviews and bombshell claims creating increasing hostility between them.
However, reports last week claimed that Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle were gearing up to return to the
UK, and had even requested a meeting with the Queen.
And as it had been previously reported that the couple had wanted their three-monthold daughter Lilibet to be christened at Windsor, fans speculated on social media as to whether the couple were plotting a christening during the rumoured visit.
While Harry, who turns 37 this week, has been back twice this year, the potential UK trip would be the first for Meghan, 40, since she left in March 2020 to set up home in LA, where she, Harry, son Archie, two, and Lilibet now live.
The pair’s popularity has plummeted since their departure, with polls earlier this month revealing it was at its lowest ever – and a clip from their Oprah interview being booed when it was played at last week’s National Television Awards.
ACCUSATIONS
The visit would see Meghan come face-to-face with the royals for the first time since she scandalously accused a royal of racism in her infamous interview with Oprah in
March this year, as well as insisting that her cries for help about her mental health went unanswered by The Firm.
Harry has also criticised his family in a podcast with Dax Shepard, where he blasted his father’s parenting, saying that Prince Charles had made him “suffer” like he had growing up. In the documentary The Me You Can’t See, Harry said there were “efforts from The Firm and the media to smear” Meghan.
The recent re-release of the couple’s biography Finding Freedom has added fuel to the fire, and fans were left openmouthed last month when it emerged that Harry will release a tell-all memoir next year, with no doubt even more secrets about life behind Palace walls.
While it’s unclear when Meghan and Harry will return – with the Queen due to stay at her beloved Balmoral Castle in Scotland until October – Paul Burrell, who worked for both the Queen and Princess Diana as a butler for a decade, tells Closer that a meeting is inevitable, either later this year or at the
Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations next summer.
And he believes the Queen would welcome them back – but warns they could struggle to win over Prince Charles.
He says, “The day Harry and Meghan return to the UK will be extremely tense. There’ll be an icy reception from Palace aides, staff and certain members of the family. I don’t think Harry and Meghan are aware of just how much hurt they’ve caused.
FORGIVENESS
“The Queen will feel torn between her role as a grandmother and her role as Queen. While she is no doubt upset over what Harry and Meghan have said and done, family is everything. She’ll want to talk to Harry and she’d forgive him, should he ask for her forgiveness. They’ll probably bring Archie and Lilibet – and I know she’ll be desperate to see Archie again and to meet Lilibet.
“It’s Prince Charles who has really been in the firing line from Harry. Harry has criticised him as a father, in terms of his parenting, and he’s attacked Charles’ character, which could affect his reputation with the public. Charles was reportedly livid, and I think he’ll be the most reluctant to welcome back Harry and Meghan with open arms. I think there’ll be pressure on the Queen from Prince Charles’ household to
be stern and not forgiving.
“But I believe Prince William and Kate will play mediators between the Queen and Prince Charles. William and Kate will be thinking both logistically and emotionally about how to go about things should Harry and Meghan come back the UK. I think they will be the ones who decide if Harry and Meghan are accepted back into the fold – their fate lies in William and Kate’s hands.”
The growing divide between Harry and his brother William is said to have started when William warned him against rushing things with Meghan in 2016. In 2019, Harry claimed he and William were “on different paths”. But sources have claimed William has been saddened by the rift. There was a glimmer of hope in April when Kate was seen to bring Harry and William together to talk after Prince Philip’s funeral.
Paul says, “William and Kate are in the middle – they’ll want to call a truce and make peace with Harry and Meghan, but they also know there’s a danger in forgiving them.
“William has an alignment to the throne, but also to his brother. I suspect he’s thinking very carefully about when they come face to face again.”
❛ I DON’T THINK THEY ARE AWARE OF JUST HOW MUCH HURT THEY HAVE CAUSED ❜