EXCLUSIVE: As Harry enjoys a ski trip without Meghan, a royal expert gives his take about their solo activities and very different interests as their priorities appear increasingly ‘divided’

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry

Meghan and Harry have some big challenges coming their way, a royal expert says(Image: )

Amid fresh rumours of a split and escalating noise of a UK visit by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, a royal expert says the couple have “deeply divided priorities” at the moment. The pair found themselves the subject of yet more “heading for divorce” headlines after Prince Harry, 41, jetted off on a boys’ skiing trip shortly before Christmas, leaving Meghan at home with the kids in California.

And with the new Home Office review into the reinstatement of state-funded security for Harry and his family while on UK soil reportedly almost wrapped up, and widely predicted to fall in Harry’s favour, royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams says there may indeed be trouble ahead.

“They appear to have deeply divided priorities and needs at the moment,” he tells new magazine. “Harry clearly wants to do more in the UK, and rebuild a relationship with his father, while Meghan is focused on her business.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

If the security review goes in Harry’s favour, the Susssexes could be UK-bound(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)

“I can’t see how Harry would fit into the As Ever lifestyle and cookery world, and Meghan has no affection for Britain, so there’s a clear difference there. Harry needs something more substantial in his activities than looking on and waving from behind Meghan.

“They still seem emotionally committed to each other, but the outside noise and goings on around them as a couple is deafening at times.”

Harry jetted off to Aspen, Colorado, the week before Christmas while Meghan, Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, four, stayed in Montecito. The snow-loving prince hit the slopes with his polo-playing friend Nacho Figueras, and others, and also led the Aspen Valley team in the annual snow polo championship, donning an azure Number 1 polo jersey.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex competes during the Royal Salute Polo Challenge

Harry has been a keen polo player for many years(Image: Getty)

While Meghan, 44, publicly supported her husband by posting a snap of him on horseback to her Instagram with the caption “Oh, hello there”, the result was a flurry of rumours about “tensions” in their marriage. “Harry is used to the rumours that come out when he and Meghan do anything alone, but it does make him angry,” Richard says. “He has directly addressed the ‘split fear’ rumours over the years, so they’re nothing new to him.”

Harry admitted he had learned to ignore the rumours of his pending divorce from Meghan, telling an audience at a book event in New York in 2024 that “we’ve apparently divorced maybe 10, 12 times as well. So it’s just like, ‘What? ‘It’s hard to keep up with, but that’s why you just sort of ignore it”.

His words came before a US magazine printed details of an old rumour alleging that Meghan’s team once “had a conversation with a publishing house to gauge interest in the idea for a potential book” that “might centre on a post-Harry divorce”.

Harry is expected to travel to the UK in the coming weeks

Harry has fought hard to have his family’s security reinstated in the UK(Image: PA)

The Vanity Fair cover story referred to it as a “notion of a book”, and made it clear that no offer was made by the publisher and no manuscript was ever written, and stressed that the Sussexes were actually happily married and not thinking or talking about divorce.

Harry also once said the people he felt most sorry for when it comes to the long-running divorce rumours were “the trolls”, because “Their hopes are just built and built, and it’s like, ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,’ and then it doesn’t happen. So I feel sorry for them. Genuinely, I do.”

Aside from the split rumours, Richard suspects there is another big complication when it comes to the Sussexes tackling the topic of a joint UK trip – Meghan’s less-than-favourable ranking in the polls (she had 25% popularity in YouGov’s most recent ratings).

While they are “in love and committed to their marriage”, he adds, there is no getting away from the fact they are on very different pages when it comes to the country Harry recently said he “proudly served and fought for”.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry

Prince Harry brushed off divorce rumours at a New York Times book event(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

“If Harry is keen to come to a country – and to bring his children to a country – that Meghan doesn’t want to appear in, it’s only going to exacerbate any difficulties between them,” Richard says, “and her coming back could be a complete catastrophe, depending on how they managed it.

“They have done reasonably successful tours to Nigeria and Colombia, but the UK is very different. The polls indicate that Meghan is largely detested by the public so how would she handle that fierce hostility? It would be a huge test for both her and the Sussexes as a couple.

“Even so, I believe it would take an earthquake of an event for them to divorce. Aside from anything else the loss of face, after everything they have done and said, and how they have distanced themselves from the other members of their family, would be huge.”

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