What’s really behind Harry and Meghan’s shock move back to the UK? | The Daily T Podcast

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will touch down in the UK in just a matter of days, but what is the real reason behind it?

in terms of his public facing stuff is particularly different to how it was before he left the royal family but he's obviously reached some sort of emotional mental conclusion that maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought.

Here is how the rest of the world responded to our exclusive.

Tonight a royal bombshell nobody saw coming.The Telegraph newspaper reporting that six years after they stepped down as working royals.Out of London.Here we go.

Just in some royal news, ABC News has confirmed that Prince Harry and Meghan DeMarco are moving back to the UK.

And what do Telegraph readers think about it?Well, trawling through the nearly 10 ,000 comments that we have received so far, the mood runs from very, very negative to mildly happy.They belong in Britain.At Mariem1 says, I can't imagine the betrayal that Prince William and Princess Catherine must be feeling.The British public must feel outraged.And at Dom Triss says, the UK is in dire straits.

The last thing we care about is the ultra -rich swanning off to the US just to come back, just to be put up by the taxpayer.And Anonymous, hello Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous, says, I've been a monarchist all my adult life.But if this remind ourselves of what Harry once said about the possibility of life in the UK.

I can't see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point.And it's really quite sad that I wouldn't be able to show my children my homeland.

I'm now joined by Poppy Coburn, filling in for Camilla Tomminy, who is with Telegraph's Royal Editor.Nice to see you.Hannah, hearing Harry say that about the UK, putting it in such starkalmost existential terms.I don't think I could exist here.

On record, which has largely been about the press and security, is what we've been hearing behind the scenes.So it wasn't that long ago we've started to get this very different feel from their camp about how Harry thinks about massive step, isn't it, from the point of saying he loves Britain to actually moving back to Britain.We don't really understand how that's going to play out yet, how that's going to fit in with the royal family.

As far as I can tell, it's quite difficult to move you and your family across the world, particularly if you are... a person as famous as Harry.So we found out about this, you know, he's enrolled his children into a British...This has obviously been a long time in the works.I kind of just want to hear more about this timeline, because obviously Prince Harry's had this horrific court case where he is lost on every single front.He's been completely humiliated about the British tabloids.He's kind of coming back with his tail between his legs, is he not?

Yeah, that's a good way of putting it.There was a time when we thought, you know, they're going to have this rival court in California.They're going to test the royal family at every stage of their life.lives.They're going to be the popular, glamorous, sexy ones going off having fun and the royal family would look quite staid in comparison getting on with duty.That's not the basis on which where things haven't felt like they've worked out.

In some senses they have, they're happy, they've got their children, Megan's got her business, jam, fruits, bread, he's doing his work with veterans, but there's a real sense from Harry in particular that he's coming full circle.So his causes are coming full circle, he could be doing exactly what he was doing before they left the royal family, it's veterans, he wants to do charity work, it's kind of claiming the memory of Diana around the anniversary.Nothing about Harry now in terms of his personal mental conclusion that maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought.

But you can't just go back on this stuff.I mean, what I don't understand about Harry is that from everything he said since he had that break with the royal family.indeed everything he said in his book spare, he comes across as someone who's quite prideful.He's standing up for his pride, he's standing up for the reputation of his wife who was so horribly treated apparently by the royal family and the evil British press.There is nothing in this return back home that makes sense to me, that he's just going to get on with the work that he was doing anyway.Well, then why not stay in America?

What has actually pushed him to?

moved to the UK, she had been warned by friends that British tabloids will destroy your life.And the Duke more recently said that the tabloids had made his wife's life an absolute misery.

It was a bit of a flounce when they left, wasn't it?There was nothing good to be said about Britain or the royal family for quite a long time after they left.As I say, there must have been some sort of process that he's gone through where he's reckoned.For Harry coming home, it's not such a surprise that he would want to.Now, I speak advisedly because there may be things that come out further down the line that answer this question in a bit more of a concrete form.There may be financial things, there may be visa things, there may be things that haven't been part of this conversation so far.

There was this idea that the politics of America weren't really suiting them now and they'd have to come home.Nothing about the practical reasons, but in terms of the emotional family reasons, Harry clearly wants to come home.Meghan has agreed to it.The extent to which they will be here full time, the capacity.she will have to live in a country that she felt was quite unwelcoming to her.We're about to find out.

I'm guessing here the best private schools.a few weeks before term.And they are coming here in a couple of weeks' time.They must have been thinking about this months ago.

Yes, and anybody who has children there, they must be settling them in much earlier than two weeks' time.So we're finding this out really on the cusp of where they're going to have to think about being here in order to make it work.

In which case, calling on Sunday to tell the King.

Because he felt that as soon as he submitted that to his father,or his grandmother, as it was at the time, it would go to the office.And that he's managed to do all of this in private and then sort of let it be known on his own terms.But Hannah, this kind of then goes against the idea that he's doing this because he cares about his father.

I mean, that is not a long amount of time.Biggest scandal the royal family has had in decades.

In normal people terms, this is like ringing your mother on Christmas Eve.

I've said it before and I'll say it again that you cannot apply normal family rules to the royal family.They work in mysterious ways.I would be very surprised if Charles and his team had not been aware that there was something in the works.It was only a month ago that they were meeting here at Highgrove for a low -key private tea.The idea that this wouldn't be discussed at all is extraordinary.

Was something else about the family aspect of this story?It's not just the King who's involved with this.It's also the Prince and Princess of Wales.There's been no reconciliation between the two brothers.And frankly, there's been no reconciliation between the Princess of Wales and Meghan.How are they going to feel about this?

I've written it today.Anybody who presumes to know what Prince William actually thinks at this stage, one of their final conversations with was William saying to Harry, I want you to be happy.I love you and I want you to be happy.Lives, they're never going to speak again.I would be very wary of saying that now.William and Catherine was very, very hurt by the allegations in spare vitriol that she had in her direction after these allegations of who said what about Prince Archie.

It was a very, very difficult time followed by serious illness.Prince William has had to put the blinkers on and concentrate on his nuclear family in order to do his job and carry on.You know, he serves Britain effectively.He's going to be the king.He has to do more than be emotional about hisI think in time, if the Sussexes stay in Britain, we won't have communication at all.

It must be painful.And I think a lot of the public will have a lot of sympathy for Prince William here.

A quick question, because you mentioned Prince Archie.They negotiated that the kids keep the grandfather is the king.

You can be prince and princess.So when they were the great grandchildren of the late queen, they didn't have the titles.When the king became king, they could then have the titles.

Okay.What does that entitle them to?

I mean, nothing necessarily.It's a title.It's prestige.It's great branding.If you're living in America where the royal family is recognized as prince and princesses.Um, Logistically, it doesn't really change anything for them.

They're still in the same position of the line of succession.Harry believes that having the titles gives them greater credibility for getting security.

What about them later becoming working royals?

Nothing is impossible.I think it seemed impossible when they were living in California.The idea that they can come back have a greater understanding of what life in Britain is like.And there's a world in which a future King George is going to call on a cousin.It's very difficult to imagine, but it's not impossible.

I'm building up to the Windsors have a problem with a shrinking number of working royals.Right.So I'm just wondering if part of this is about Harry foreseeing a future in which he has a practical role to play within the family, because they need every every body they can get.

And part of the, the problem between William and Harry is this idea that Harry interrolls that they wouldn't necessarily have had to take, or we wouldn't be talking about them in this way.So when Harry was here, he would be filling the gaps of the working Royals for another generation.He's still interesting.He's always said he's only interesting till George becomes an adult, which is true in the natural Royal cycle.But the fact that he left at the end of themuch more pressure on the Wales children and the Wales nuclear family.

that you're quite right, that there is a line of thinking.

I mean, Meghan has made such a big deal out of not showing her children's faces.I cannot imagine if they've got the royal titles of prince and princess and they are actually living in the United Kingdom.Are they just going to keep that up until they're 18 years old?Are they going to be walking around with baseball caps on all the time?There is going to be some involvement of the children in public life.The privacy line isn't going to wash anymore, right?

Well, the Wales model has been better in giving a certain amount of access.and being completely firm of no.Harry living overseas has meant that he could do it on his own terms.Here, still nobody is going to be intruding on their private lives.The press is very, very considerate now.We're very well behaved compared to when Harry was growing up.

I don't think there's any sense where a British premieres that you still have paparazzi here who are supplying European magazines and American publications.that might bother them.And I do think they're going to have to think very carefully about whether they follow the Wales model, which has been so successful, but will be painful to Harry because he didn't want that for his children.

Are the children the key to a reconciliation between the parents?Because there are very similar ages.I imagine they're going to move in the same social circles.Not that many princes and princesses out there in the world.They will have something in common.

Is that the way that the brothers below Louis are eaten at some point in the future?It's very likely that these children will come across each other.if the Sussexes remain in Britain.It adds a whole new element, doesn't it, to the family estrangement or reunion that the children will be moving very likely in the same social circles, not least at school.I think the public would love mostly to see a new generation of children getting along.You can sort of see, can't you, the Sussex children in those photos we always see with the Tindalls and the Phillipses at the polo

just having a nice time playing with each other, rolling down the hills.You can imagine seeing them in that kind of world.I think putting children in the position of a nation watching them, and are you going to help the royal family reconcile, is very uncomfortable to me.

And isn't it then privately but they are under the spotlight and lab brooks has already put two to one on that harry and megan will become working royals by the end of 2027 and say it's evens that harry and megan and william and kate will be pictured together in 2026 a spokesman for labbrook said talk of harry moving back to the uk has got royal watchers dreaming of a full -blown family reunion punters reckon the next uh chapter could see the sussexes back in the royal fold and they're also backing a headline grabbing reunion photo So sooner rather than later.

appear as if they're working royals, doing patronages and engagements and so on, while building businesses and doing commercial work.This is sort of less half in, half out by stealthers, by bulldozer, isn't it?You're moving back.It's inevitable that they're going to have photographs with the royal family.If they're going to have a meaningful life here, they're going to have to accept the invitation to Balmoral.probably they'll be at Sandringham for Christmas, there are going to be photos of the Sussexes with the King, and that puts them back at the heart of the royal family, in the minds of the public who don't necessarily follow the nuance of working, non -working, in, out, and just see a visual picture of Harry looking happy next to the King.

and then what's going to happen with their businesses on the side.

Is this the end of Brand Sussex?Because I can't imagine Meghan's going to be able to do Masterchef Australia if she's actually living in the United Kingdom.What happens to their commercial?

Speaking of which, I went on the As Ever websiteand I found that you can buy the Cozy Duo signature scents to warm the home.And you can buy this pair of candles and a box of matches, which will make your home smell like Harry and Meghan's home.

How much is this then?

Tears, sweat, drama.When's your birthday?Two candles and a box of matches, $128.That is money for old rape, isn't it?

You're not going to want to give that up just so you can do some working royal engagements.

I've got some old candles in a cupboard from when the lights go out.If I can combine those with a box of matches, I can offer the smell of Tim Stanley.To what extent does she risk in some way watering down her own brand, which is a very global, cosmopolitan...

Well, it's been built on being a California girl recently, hasn't it?That's been at the heart of it.I'm a California girl.She'll say, oh, she said it on Masterchef, I think.Fresh ingredients, the outside barefoot, picking flowers in the garden.

Yes.

Good luck doing that in rainy British weather.

I love the website.You have to.Everyone has to go on this website because it's film of Meghan picking berries and she's dressed as if she's going to dinner.But she's picking berries.And of course, she doesn't just, as we all pick berries, you know, trying not to prick your fingers with horrible red -covered hands.She's sort of delicately picking it.

It's Montecito.And sniffing it.

We're checking in the autumn.

Putting it in her little basket.

We're going to see her in Kentish Town doing the same thing with some slightly mangy blackberries, putting them in a jam.

British blackberries.You can't do this with the berries on the side of the A1.Absolutely not.

A dog's probably done its business on them.It's not a good idea.

But one thing we have to bear in mind, we mentioned this yesterday, is her own family is a very complicated story.She fell out with her father, but King Charles walked her down the aisle.You know, it's it'sWe're assuming she's got something to lose here, but she's also got a family to gain.I mean, that's part of a reconciliation story, isn't it?

And that's what they said very early on.Harry said in an interview that the royal family was the family Meghan never had.And we were all quite puzzled about it at the time, because all of the Thomas Markle stuff hadn't really come to light.Yes, that is true.I think there is a slight danger, and I think in the last six years, not just on a personal level, but on a royal family level.You know, the fifth in line to the throne, heavily criticized in the Commonwealth, isn't just a personal family issue.

That's an issue for the monarchy.That's an issue for destabilization of the globe.to get slightly carried away.But there's a lot that has happened.What have the children been told about why they don't live in Britain and why they don't know their cousins and their uncle and aunt?There's a lot to puzzle out here and we would all love it to be straightforward.

The story arc is moving towards reconciliation.It's a lot more complicated than that behind the scenes.

and then come back.That would be simple.But they went away, and they wrote a book, and they did interviews, and they made a TV series.And for instance, Harry has described Queen Camilla as the villain in his parents' marriage, who needed to rehabilitate her image because her whose need to rehabilitate her image has made her dangerous because of her connections with the British press.He's essentially accusing her.

And they're very, very personal and very hurtful.You know, the idea for William that Harry is telling stories about their personal rows in a memoir, as you compare it to a normal family, normal siblings, that's very difficult to get over, let alone with the public pressure.There seems to be a lot of pressure on William now, and you've sort of got to feel sorry for him.While Harry's back, it's your job to forgive him.

Well, let's not forget for everything that Harry has said about his wife, William will have the exact same view for the Princess of Wales, who was also incrediblyhurt by Harry's big media tour.I mean, we're not just asking Harry to, you know, move on and come back into the country.We're saying...

We're also saying, how much is this going to cost me?And how will the security work?What will it look like?How much of it is he going to get?We're now joined by Dye Davies, who is the former head of the Royal Protection Command.Dye, just tell us what was your initial reaction when you heard the news?

Well, I was contacted late last night asking if I would go on a programme at midnight.I declined.I was really shocked and so amazed after all that's gone on for the last six years, but particularly the court cases and all the rest of it.And his recent statement saying that he couldn't trust this country or allow his wife and children to be safe here.It's quite extraordinary, the 100 percent U -turn.

And one has to ask what on earth is going on.We want to talk to you about the security implications.And of course, we're not just being intrusive.We want to talk to you about the security implications.And of course, we're not being intrusive here.This is a public This is a question of public interest, right?

Because if nothing else, we may end up having to pay for it.So what do you think this will mean for Harry's protection if he comes to the UK?

Well, quite clearly, once again, the matter will be reviewed by the structure that's in place already to look at royal and VIP protection.It's a small group of men, mostly men as far as I know, and they will decide on the intelligence and information what the risk assessment is.But clearly, I think of looking into the whole structure from homes to schools and all the rest of it, it beggars belief that the palace didn't know anything.And it's indicative, perhaps, of the way, if that's true,these two carry on.It's just unbelievable that this hasn't been pre -planned, pre -structured, pre -organized, in order that security can be looked at.

sensibly and succinctly, in my view.

It's not like they're just quietly slinking back into the country.I mean, if you're Prince Harry, you can't quietly go anywhere.And I imagine that will have some kind of bearing on the level of security they're going to need.They are the highest level of fame now in this country since they left.

Well, Indians in this country, about 20 % allegedly pose a threat.And I can't believe given the polls that I've been looking at this morning and being made aware of, About 85 % of people allegedly polled don't want them here.So there could be all manner of threats that would now have to be looked at as a consequence of this action.And again, I don't know we've had confirmation from any reliable source.I appreciate it's your paper that broke the newspaper, and good for you in that sense, but A lot of these two now has to be looked at very carefully as a consequence of their own actions in coming here with their children.

I want to be careful how we discuss this because it's a sensitive matter.

Well, my obviously experience goes back to when William and Harry were at their respective schools, Eton, as I seem to recall.And again, the surveillance.Today, many years on, that surveillance will be far more sophisticated.But you have to carry out a preparation.You have to look at what the risk assessment in that area would be.You have to look at the potential threats either to the school and or the royal children.

It's a complex scenario, which I won't go into.detail, but suffice to say it has to be looked at with the knowledge of history and the knowledge of the threat and the methodology of threat today.It is an issue which will require a great deal of structure, finance, I would suggest, in terms of alarms, in terms of cameras, and other technical issues.

You're going from living in a gated community in Montecito, where they do have security that they are paying for, to a country that you haven't lived in for some time, where suddenly your profile is raised.In America, they're celebrities, but in the United Kingdom, they are the royals.They are suddenly much higher status again.Where is this actually going to come down in terms of practical cost?Because the decision is going to be something that Harry is going to be happy to accept in the next year, 10 years, however long he's here.

Well, you're quite right.It's questions, you know, how long is a piece of string really?In my professional opinion, I would be looking at where the location is, what kind of premises they're going to live in.what are the capabilities in terms of the local police if alarms are raised, the technical support, the full structure of the return, and where they're living, etc., etc.All manner of things come to mind.It's almost like I could spend an hour talking about what I would now be doing.

Is that a solution?

Well, only if he lived, you know, at Highgrove or any of the other numerous premises that the king owns.in this country.I mean, but I don't see that happening because, well, who knows what's going to happen?This is a scenario we haven't been in since Edward VIII and his abdication, when the then king refused to allow him to come back to live permanently in the country as a consequence

his marriage to Mrs. Simpson.

So here we have an American divorcee coming back again to a scenario where a great deal of people allegedly in this country don't particularly want them back.They're coming with very little notice because apparently the children are going to school in two weeks.after all the hoo -ha we've had in recent years.

I'm wondering how the security services will be feeling about it too.I mean, of course, they just do their duty and they protect whoever it is they've got to protect.But when someone's walked away from the country like this and said so many negative things about it and negative things about the Royal Institution, how do you think some people who might be on their detail would feel about Harry and Meghan when they come back?

Well, again, one has to take in the fact that they are professional.If indeed you and I now are faced with paying for their security, I mean, clearly with the Invictus Games and others where he was known to be coming, the local police and the police in that area would have provided a higher level of security, complementing the private security.So this is going to raise all manner of different issues.I'm again fearful that it'll come back to you and I now paying for this and it's going to perhaps, it'll become clearer.And what I don't like is this dripping news to their favoured kind of newspapers and or, I'm not suggesting that in your case, but again, with some of the media outlets, they have their favourites and it's dripped right.Instead of having a clear structure, where the nation is told this is going to happen because and we would like to do this because is nonsensical.

That's a very good point for people who've built their career around communication.It is surprising that we haven't yet had a video or a TV interview in which they have set asidefor this.On the contrary, they've gone from Harry being in court, losing a libel case, to suddenly a few...

It seems to me that whoever's advising them professionally needs to go and rethink their structure and their professionalism.Because this is nonsensical, in my humble opinion.

Dai Davies, thank you very much.

My pleasure.

Well, tomorrow I'm off on holiday – at long, long last – but come to the Daily T, why not consider subscribing to The Telegraph?You'll be able to read the latest opinion pieces from me and Camilla, as well as further insights from our colleagues, including the familiar faces on this podcast.Join us today and explore everything The Telegraph has to offer.