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After Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, stepped back as working members of the Royal Family and settled in California in 2020, there was little to suggest they would want to return to the United Kingdom any time soon.
So it came as a considerable surprise when word broke that Harry, Meghan and their two children were on their way back and would settle outside London for an extended period.
“It seems so counterintuitive and so contradictory to everything that they have said since the moment they left,” royal historian Justin Vovk said in an interview.
But now they’re back, and even though there has been much telegraphing of the idea that Harry and Meghan are not going to be working royals again, the move carries broader implications for both the institution of the monarchy and other members of the Royal Family.
“Regardless of whatever their reasons are, their return creates massive shockwaves,” Vovk said.
WATCH | Prince Harry and Meghan returning to U.K.:
Harry and Meghan moving back to the U.K.
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are moving back to the United Kingdom with their children, Buckingham Palace has confirmed. The couple will remain non-working royals and live as private citizens.
“What does this mean for Harry and Meghan as a couple? What does this mean for Harry and Meghan and their children as a family unit? How will this impact relations with the rest of the Royals?
“How will the monarchy respond to this? How will the British public respond to this? How will in particular the tabloid and the predatory media respond to this? How will Harry engage with the media in light of his wins and losses in court over the past year regarding media intrusions?”
Harry and Meghan have their supporters and detractors, and as much as they have stepped back from official royal duties, what they do and say continues to draw attention.
“They may not be working royals, but they’re still members of the Royal Family,” Craig Prescott, a constitutional expert and lecturer in law at Royal Holloway, University of London, said in an interview.
“Harry is the son of the King at the end of the day, and he will never not be the son of the King.”
For the monarchy, Harry and Meghan’s return could divert attention from day-to-day activities of the House of Windsor.
WATCH | Reaction in London to Harry and Meghan’s return:
Londoners react to Prince Harry and Meghan’s move back to U.K.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are reportedly returning to Britain this month – six years after they quit royal duties and relocated to the U.S. While details around the decision behind their shift are unknown, the British public has mixed feelings about the move.
“Officially, nothing changes,” Prescott said. “But clearly, Harry will get attention wherever he goes, whatever he does, and so there is a sort of risk of that being a distraction from the work of the monarchy.”
To avert that, Prescott sees a need for “some element” of communication between Buckingham Palace and Harry and Meghan.
Vovk sees their return as potentially a new “crisis point” for the monarchy.
“It all depends on how things are handled on both sides. We know the palace is going to — and they’ve already taken the position — that [Harry and Meghan are] not working royals, ‘we won’t be commenting on their lives now that they’re back.’
“So a lot will depend on how Harry and Meghan proceed.”
How they proceeded over the past few years — in what became a visible estrangement from the wider Royal Family — included several instances of pointed criticism of the monarchy and the family itself, whether through their interview with Oprah Winfrey, a Netflix docuseries or publication of Harry’s memoir Spare.
Prince Harry, right, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, left, walk along the boardwalk after meeting volunteer first responders from Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club during a visit to Bondi Beach, Australia, on April 17. (Jonathan Brady/The Associated Press)
More recently, there has been no public criticism, and with King Charles, there appears to have been some rapprochement.
Harry, Meghan and their children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, visited with the King and Queen Camilla privately when they were in the U.K. last month, prior to word breaking of their return.
“You can imagine at the personal level [King Charles] would want to see his son and the children, as I assume Camilla would at one level,” Prescott said.
“But … Harry did single Camilla out for criticism in [Spare] and … that dynamic would be interesting to know more about, how Camilla views all this.”
There is, however, no sense that Harry’s estrangement from his elder brother, Prince William, has thawed in any way. Much media speculation since the return has focused on how William and his wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales, will be feeling about it.
“We’re probably not going to hear a word about anything from them because anything that is said, people will jump on, people will try to read into it,” Vovk said.
Prince Harry, left, and Prince William, right, stand during the unveiling of a statue they commissioned of their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, on what would have been her 60th birthday, in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in London, on July 1, 2021. (Dominic Lipinski/The Associated Press)
For William, Prescott suggested, there could be a risk that there would come a point when — particularly if Charles is seen to be a bit more forgiving — that the lack of contact with his brother could start to look “quite surly and sulky.”
“At some point, you may have to just let bygones be bygones and just move on and not hold a grudge for forever and a day.”
The return also spawns numerous questions around issues that have been at the heart of some of Harry’s most vocal grievances, whether over actions of the media — particularly the tabloids — or security for him and his family.
Still, it seems likely that whatever Harry and Meghan do will draw headlines, fuel much conversation on social media and continue to divide opinion.
“Anything that they do creates a public response because whether people like them or people hate them … there is clearly something about them that still activates public opinion,” said Vovk.
He sees multiple reasons for that, one of the biggest being Harry is the younger son of the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
People who have felt like they connected with Harry after his mother’s death in 1997 have continued to feel that connection, said Vovk. He likens Harry to “a reflecting mirror that has a billion different reflecting facets on it, because there are so many millions and millions of people who take an interest in him.”
“It says more about us … consuming celebrity culture than it does necessarily about Harry personally.”
A new royal face on Canada’s $20 bill 
The portrait of King Charles is seen on the new Canadian $20 note at its unveiling in Ottawa on Thursday. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
Canadians just got their first glimpse of King Charles on the $20 bill. Our CBC friend Natalie Stechyson had this report:
It’s official — Canada has a new $20 bill.
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem unveiled the new, vertical bill featuring a portrait of King Charles on Thursday in Ottawa. It’s the first Canadian bank note to feature Charles, whose image replaces that of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
In a news conference, Macklem called the unveiling “historic.” It’s been more than 70 years since a new monarch appeared on a Canadian bank note. The late Queen Elizabeth first appeared on the bank’s inaugural $20 note in 1935 as a young princess, Macklem added.
Two years later, in 1937, the bank’s bilingual series featured King George on most of its bills. By 1954, with its landscape series, every note carried the portrait of Queen Elizabeth, until now.
The new bill is also historic because it “features security technologies never before used on a Canadian bank note,” Macklem said.
“Our new $20 note is both visually stunning and more secure than ever.”
Tiff Macklem, governor of the Bank of Canada, holds the new Canadian $20 note featuring the portrait of King Charles as he speaks during its unveiling in Ottawa on Thursday. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
The new note is polymer, predominantly green and vertical in orientation.
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial remains on the back. Charles is centred on the front.
The new note will gradually enter circulation in late February 2027.
In a news release, the bank explained that the portrait of Charles is surrounded by a floral and leafy tapestry “inspired by the King’s lifetime dedication to the environment.”
Also on the front are provincial and territorial floral emblems representing the 13 provinces and territories. A circular window, which the bank explains is visible from both sides of the note, “features plants that are culturally significant to Indigenous Peoples in Canada.”
As for security features, the note has a purple security stripe that includes elements that “spin, transform and pulse” when the note is moved, the bank said. This makes the bill “easy to check and hard to counterfeit.”
WATCH | New $20 bill unveiled:
Bank of Canada governor unveils new $20 bill
Governor of the Bank of Canada Tiff Macklem calls the new vertical $20 bill featuring King Charles ‘visually stunning and more secure than ever.’
“The new $20 note reflects important parts of who we are as Canadians, honouring our Commonwealth roots and our ties with international allies,” Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in the news release.
“It honours our constitutional traditions through the portrait of His Majesty King Charles III and recognizes the service and sacrifice of Canadians through the Vimy Memorial, a symbol that continues to resonate across generations.”
The Bank of Canada has previously noted that the $20 bill is its most-circulated currency.
The government announced that King Charles would replace his mother on Canada’s currency during his coronation celebration in 2023. The first Canadian coins bearing the image of the King began circulating that December.
Back to royal work
Queen Camilla, centre, meets local schoolchildren during a visit to Spellow Hub Community Library in Liverpool, England, on Friday. (Peter Byrne/The Associated Press)
This time of year has a back-to-school, back-to-work, holidays-are-over feel to it, and that seemed to be the case for some senior royals this week, too.
After a traditional summer break at Balmoral in Scotland, King Charles and Queen Camilla had a noticeably busier roster of engagements over the past few days.
They were at the British Museum in London on Wednesday evening to view the historic Bayeux Tapestry.
Other engagements included Charles meeting the Pakistani national cricket team at Clarence House. Camilla was at the Royal Academy of Dance, and had engagements that focused on her literary interests in Liverpool on Friday.
On Thursday evening, Camilla also made a surprise appearance at an event that celebrates “the enduring power of literary correspondence,” Buckingham Palace said.
Camilla read out loud a letter that was written by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother after the death of her husband King George VI in 1952.
Queen Camilla, right, meets with members of staff and volunteers during her visit to the Ebony Horse Club to mark the youth charity and community riding centre’s 30th anniversary on Thursday in London. (Henry Nicholls/Getty Images)
The notable uptick in royal engagements early in September is a change from the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who stayed much longer at Balmoral each summer.
“It’s a slight modernization of … the royal calendar,” said Prescott, who noted that there was a time when it was more based on the ecclesiastical calendar.
“The Queen just followed that rhythm of decades gone past, whereas 1788683295 it’s just more typical that September is a fully working month.”
There is also, Prescott said, a sense that Charles likes his royal work, “so is perhaps, in a sense, itching to get back.”
William to represent Charles at royal funeral in Norway
Charles, centre, then Prince of Wales, and Norwegian King Harald, second from left, arrive for a wreath-laying ceremony at the National Monument in Oslo on March 20, 2012. Harald died on Aug. 28. (Berit Roald/Scanpix Norway/AFP/Getty Images)
After the death last week of King Harald V of Norway, King Charles offered condolences and praised the late Scandinavian monarch for his “unwavering dedication,” guiding his country “through times of great change with warmth and humility.”
Charles also noted “close historical and family ties” between the U.K. and Norway, “with Britain one of the first countries to recognize Norwegian independence and establish diplomatic relations in 1905.”
At Harald’s funeral on Wednesday in Oslo, Charles will be represented by his son and heir, Prince William, Buckingham Palace announced Saturday. Princess Anne will also attend in a private capacity as godmother to the new Norwegian king, Haakon VII.
Who would represent the Royal Family in Oslo had been a matter of some curiosity.
“Everyone’s asking me: ‘Who will the Windsors send to the funeral?’ because that is quite … significant,” Vovk said.
“Over the last … 20 years, the Windsors have not done a great job in terms of participating in the royal community at things like funerals, investitures, those sorts of ceremonials.”
King Harald, centre, arrives at Westminster Abbey in London on Sept. 19, 2022, for the state funeral service for Queen Elizabeth. (Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images)
One possibility for attending Wednesday’s funeral was Prince William. Prescott noted that tradition has held that the British heir to the throne attends such occasions.
Still, there has been some inconsistency around all of this.
“When Elizabeth the Second died, we … sort of just assumed that the kings and queens of everywhere else would come, and so there’s a bit of unevenness there in that relationship,” Prescott said.
Harald’s funeral will be held in Oslo Cathedral. Other royals expected to attend include King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, King Frederik and Queen Mary of Denmark, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium and Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko of Japan.
Headlines have also focused on the Norwegian royal family since Harald’s death, given the presence at a related event earlier this week of his disgraced step-grandson, Marius Borg Hoiby, and the expectation that he will be at the funeral.
Hoiby, who was convicted of rape in June, is the son of Harald’s daughter-in-law, now Queen Mette-Marit, from a relationship prior to her marriage to now King Haakon. Hoiby is appealing his conviction and has received permission to attend the funeral.
Royally quotable
“The Bayeux Tapestry — or the Canterbury Embroidery, as it might just have been called — recounts a conflict. Yet here it is today, nearly a thousand years later, as a precious symbol of trust, at a time when trust seems sadly to be in short supply between nations.”
— King Charles, during a speech on Wednesday at a viewing of the Bayeux Tapestry Exhibition at the British Museum. The fragile tapestry that depicts the 1066 Norman conquest of England is on loan from France for the 10-month exhibition.
King Charles, second from right, and Queen Camilla, centre, accompanied by French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron and British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and his wife Marie-France van Heel, view the Bayeux Tapestry Exhibition at the British Museum on Wednesday in London. (Richard Pohle/Getty Images)Royal reads
A senior equerry to King Charles and Queen Camilla who captured widespread attention online is to step down from his role supporting the Royal Family. [The Independent]
Sarah Ferguson will return to the U.K. after relocating to a Swiss chalet amid the fallout over the friendship between her and her ex-husband, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to reports. [The Guardian]
Amid family feuds, damaging headlines and questions about its future role, the Royal Family has spent much of the past decade managing its public image. But the importance of good royal PR dates back centuries. [The Conversation]
Princess Ingrid Alexandra has stepped into a historic new role as heir to the Norwegian throne — and appeared to pay a touching tribute to her grandmother as she stood alongside her father at his swearing-in ceremony. [Daily Mail]
King Haakon VIII, left, and Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, right, of Norway stand during the oath of allegiance ceremony at Stortinget on Tuesday in Oslo. The new king took the oath to govern Norway in accordance with its constitution before the Norwegian parliament. He ascended to the throne on Aug. 28, following the death of his father King Harald V. (Per Ole Hagen/Getty Images)