Meghan and Harry could be getting their security reinstated when they visit the UK(Image: PA)
When Prince Harry said it was “impossible” for him to safely bring Meghan and their children to the UK in the aftermath of his court defeat over security last year, all hopes of a royal family reunion seemed to be dead in the water. But with the new government review into the threat level surrounding the Sussexes underway, there is mounting speculation that the couple could visit Blighty as early as this year.
The couple have not been together in the UK since Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in September 2022, and royal author Duncan Larcombe suspects that if the new threat assessment goes Harry’s way, Meghan will have to make some very uncomfortable decisions. “The security issue has essentially been used as an excuse for Meghan not to come to the UK in the last few years,” he said. “But many people think the real reason is to do with the public reaction that she’d receive over here.”
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Bookies are taking odds on when Harry might return to the UK and continue building bridges(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
He continued, “If the protection is put back in place for Harry and Meghan when they’re on UK soil, then there’s really no excuse for her to stay away, so she has to be considering doing a U-turn – she has no choice but to think about it given the new review.
“But, effectively, she’ll come face to face with the British public and members of the family that she’s been at pains to criticise. She will want to support Harry how she can, and has also said that she doesn’t like to be away from her children for long, so there are going to be some difficult decisions either way.
“I don’t think it’s in Meghan’s character to eat humble pie and if she comes to the UK, humble pie is exactly what’s on the menu for her.”
As of last month, the bookies were already taking odds on the date of a potential Sussex family trip to the UK – with 2026 being the favourite year so far, followed by 2028. Although the Invictus Games are set to take place in Birmingham during the summer of 2027, so that year could be an even better bet.
Harry said it would be ‘impossible’ to bring Archie, Lilibet and Meghan to the UK after his court defeat(Image: INSTAGRAM/@MEGHAN)
The distraction of the Invictus Games might also make any potential trip less daunting for Meghan, says Duncan, because it could be a “PR disaster” if she kept her distance and allowed Harry to come alone with Archie, six, and Lilibet, four.
“Meghan is not stupid, she knows that staying away would do her no favours in terms of how people view her over here,” he said. “It would start to raise all sorts of questions about the couple’s relationship and them wanting different things.”
“I’m sure they’ll be talking to their UK advisors about how the land lies, and if you believe the polls, people may want to see Harry back in the fold but at the moment, they are the outcast couple who live in self-imposed exile and have stirred up a lot of trouble and made a lot of money off the royal family during the rift.”
Harry has made it abundantly clear that the lack of official security – which usually includes round-the-clock armed security from top professional Met Police officers and access to top-level intelligence – is the biggest barrier to him and Meghan coming on even a short visit to his homeland. After losing his court case last year, he said a UK return for the family of four would be “impossible”, adding, “I can’t see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK at this point.”
Duncan says there is still ‘bad blood’ between the royal brothers(Image: Martin Meissner/AP/REX/Shutterstock)
Meghan, 44, has been far less vocal about the security issue than her husband, but she has given the UK a very wide berth since her last big trip here in 2022.
But there is also the big question of who the couple would stay with and visit while they are over here, given that Harry has only seen his father, King Charles, once in the past two years. Prince William, Duncan says, is also still “furious” about his brother’s treatment of him and Kate, and the “bad blood” is still flowing.
“If they come to the UK, who do they see?” asked Duncan. “Do they see Harry’s old friends that he’s had to isolate from? Does he see his brother who won’t talk to him? Does he see his father who only gave him minutes of his time when they met before? It’s a really complicated, complex situation that Harry and Meghan have managed to get themselves into and there are a lot of questions over exactly what a visit to the UK would look like.”
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