Are Harry and Meghan Really Moving Back to Britain? Or Is This Only an Extended Visit?

0:00 A calorogus shark media that low and welcome to Palace intrigue. I am your host, Mark Francis. In The Royalist, Tom Sykes wonders if Harry and Meghan are actually moving back. Sykes writes, if you look carefully at original briefings given to the Telegraph and other outlets, they contain this phrase somewhat tucked away to address the fact that what the Sussexes are engaged in is very different from what you or might have in mind if we told our friends or family we plan to move abroad, or move home, or enroll our kids in a foreign school. The media have been only too happy in the news drought of August to assume Harry and Meghan are using the term the way the rest of us do, with the implied assumption that the sojourn is intended to be, if not forever, at least open ended. That is very much not what Harry and Meghan are committing to, and I think it's worth noticing they are committed to residing in the UK for an extended period, a phrase that sources close to Meghan were happy to reiterate to me when I inquired how long they were moving forward, and whether the UK was going to be the family's home. It's a useful phrase precisely because it's flexible enough to mean well, not much at all. You could certainly argue that a four months stay would fulfill the literal meaning of that form of words. I find it incredibly hard to imagine that Megan is going to be any happier living in the UK this time round than she was last time, when

1:32 she was at least an hrh and a princess. Sources I've been speaking to say they honestly have no idea how long Harry and Meghan are planning to stay in the UK. They're not even totally convinced it will be longer than a year. As I say, I think it will be a miracle if Megan survives twelve months, and it certainly doesn't feel like it will be forever or even open ended. Tina Brown tweeted, the amazing thing is Harry could win back the British public if he bounds around charity events, Meghan appears in a show that finally works, and they both keep smiling and shut the ye f up. The good news for the tabloid press, as that's never coming to happen. Richard Eden and Sarah Mine are arguing that Harry and Meghan's return to Britain could create a serious problem for the monarchy if King Charles does not draw a very clear line between private family life and official royal status. Eden's position is the most direct. He explained to Pallace Confidential that Charles should put his foot down and force a choice. If Harry and Meghan want any route backers working royals, Eden said they should give up their commercial ventures and publicly apologize to members of the royal family they have criticized. Eden said the King needs to say to Harry and Meghan, if you want to rejoin the royal family as working royals, you give up your money making and you apologize publicly to the members of the royal family you have insulted. Then you can come back, or he needs to strip them of their royal titles. You're no longer Duke and Duchess of Sussex, your children are not Prince and Princess. You're back in Britain as private individuals, and everyone knows that he has to be firm or the future the monarchy is at stake.

3:02 Sarah Vine agrees with the broader concern, but frames the return is something more strategic. She said, the King is in a difficult position, is not a terribly well man, and you know we all wish him a long and healthy life. But if the worst should happen and Harry and Meghan were still in America, I think it would have been much harder for them to return. Potentially you could have seen the Prince of Wales stripping them of their titles and going quite hard on them. I think part of the reason Harry wants to come back is because he wants to stake his clean. He doesn't want to be on the outside when the leadership changes. I think that's quite a cynical move. People will think they are working royals and the credit will go to them, not to the royal family. That's what I mean about an alternative court. It feels like a land grab. There's going to be the problems that we've seen before, where Harry might go off and do a charity thing that clashes with a big engagement with the King's diary, the court circular. The thing about that is it's all very carefully planned and engineered. You can't really have people freelancing on that or going rogue. But that is how Harry op rates this announcement, blindsided his own father. He likes to pull the rug out from under people's feet. He styles himself as a disruptor. He likes that about himself.

4:08 That's his thing. A master of surprise radar onlines royal source says there is considerable frustration about the timing because this is already an exceptionally sensitive period for the monarchy. King Charles and those closest to him have been dealing privately with the enormous strain created by his cancer diagnosis and treatment, while simultaneously trying to maintain stability and reassure the public that the institution continues to function normally. Against that backdrop, Harry and Meghan suddenly revealing plans for such a significant return to Britain was always going to dominate the conversation, whatever their personal reasons for making the move. Now there are people around the royal family who regard the timing as extraordinarily crass and insensitive to emything Childs and the wider family have been navigating as it could spark another crisis. The Royal family really do not need at the moment. This isn't simply how re announcing that he intends to visit Britain more frequently. I and Meghan could potentially be establishing a substantial presence here, again, bringing their children into British life, and generating constant speculation about their relationships with the King, William and the rest of the family. That creates an entirely new dynamic for the Palace.

5:17 Even if Harry and Meghan have absolutely no intention of returning as working royals, their presence in Britain inevitably becomes part of the royal story. Regardless of what Harry and Meghan believe they are doing. The reality is that a move of this magnitude immediately drags the spotlight back towards the Sussexes. This isn't a routine visit or another charitable engagement. It potentially represents a fundamental change in where they and their children will spend their lives. So inevitably it becomes an enormous royal story. Stability has therefore become more important than ever. The Royals have also been dealing with a continuing fallout from Andrew Windsor's Jeffrey Epstein's scandal, so no more drama is the order for the day for Charles.

6:00 Isn't necessarily that Harry and Meghan deliberately intended to overshadow Charles. It is that they must have understood the extraordinary level of attention their return would generate. At such a delicate moment for the King and the institution, Critics will inevitably question why this announcement had to come now more palace In just a moment in the Daily Mail, Bryany at Gordon writes the real reason my friends Harry and Meghan are finally coming back to Britain. Gordon's basic argument is that Harry and Meghan are not moving back in the old fashioned sense. They are creating a more international family life, with Britain becoming a much bigger part of it Again. Her explanation for the return is mostly about family, geography and lifestyle rather than defeat. She says California is beautiful but a long way from anywhere, and argues that this summer reminded Harry and Meghan how much they still value Europe and Britain. She points to their recent time in Portugal, their visit to Highgrove with King Charles, and their stay at all where Diana is buried. Gordon suggests those experiences may have reinforced Harry's desire for Archie and Lilabit to have a stronger connection to his family in his past.

7:10 She also notes that Princess Eugenie's life in Portugal may have shown them a model for living internationally without being tired to one country. The practical plan, according to Gordon, is that Archie and Lilibit will attend British schools, while Harry and Meghan keep their Monte Seata home and their property in Portugal. Archiwal And as ever, will continue as before and they have it. If you'd like to email us and address us the Palace Intrigue at gmail dot com. If you're on Spotify, leave us a comment. If you're on Apple, hit that button up there that says listen uninterrupted and get the show commercial free for just five bucks a month, and we appreciate your support. I am Mark Francis my thanks to John McDermott that says Palace Intrigue and good terms