Sept. 4, 2026

Prince William ‘Fuming’ Over Harry’s UK Return as King Charles Welcomes the Sussexes Home

Show Notes
Transcript

Prince William is reportedly deeply unsettled by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s return to Britain, with sources claiming he sought assurances from King Charles that the Sussexes will not resume royal duties. Andrew Morton says Harry’s physical presence in Britain puts new pressure on William to reconcile, while Royal Insider Deep Crown argues Harry has suddenly acquired a new kind of power simply by being back on royal territory. Plus, claims Charles may benefit from the Sussex headlines distracting from Andrew, reports of tension involving Queen Camilla and Princess Catherine, and a provocative argument that Harry and Meghan were once the Royal Family’s greatest opportunity to modernize the monarchy.

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Palace Intrigue is a daily British royal family podcast covering King Charles, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton and the House of Windsor. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network.

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Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue. I am your host,

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Mark Bronson. Radar Online is floating a theory that Harry

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and Meghan's return to Britain has come at a remarkably

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convenient moment for King Charles because it has shifted much

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of the royal attention away from the continuing investigation involving

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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. One source told Radar, There will inevitably be

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cynics who look at the timing and argue that Harry's

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return could hardly have been more convenient for the king.

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Charles is now facing rumours he helped engineer the Sussexes'

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move as he knew it would be an elaborate distraction

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from his brother's scandal. The Sussexes' homecoming has completely transformed

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the conversation around the monarchy. Andrew was consuming damaging headlines,

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and suddenly Harry and Meghan are the biggest royal story again.

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From a purely reputational perspective, the Sussexes' return gives the

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palace another enormous story for people to discuss. There are

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questions about Harry's relationship with his father, his feud with William,

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where the family will live, and whether genuine reconciliation is possible.

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All of that inevitably pushes Andrew further down the news agenda.

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Radar Online is also claiming Queen Camilla came away from

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the recent royal visit to the US feeling considerably more

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confident about her public standing. One source told Radar, Camilla

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returned from America with a renewed sense of confidence about

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her standing both within the monarchy and with the public.

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For a long time, she has been acutely aware that

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Kate attracts a level of excitement and affection that can

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overshadow almost everyone in the family, but the reception Camilla

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received in the U.S. has changed her outlook considerably. She

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felt people were genuinely interested in her, rather than simply

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viewing her as the king's wife. and she saw firsthand

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that she could generate headlines and goodwill in her own right.

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After years of worrying that she could never compete with

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Kate's popularity, Camilla now believes she has established her own

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place in the public's affections and effectively won her popularity

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battle with Kate. She has come away feeling that the

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enormous gap she once perceived between them has narrowed dramatically,

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and privately, there's a sense that she finally feels she's

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won that particular fight. Another source adds... Camilla has never

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forgotten how uncertain her position once was, or how long

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it took her to feel genuinely embraced by the public.

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She spent years knowing that there were people who would

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never accept her, while at the same time watching Kate

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become one of the most popular and admired members of

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the royal family, almost effortlessly. That's why the response in

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America has been such an important moment for her. She

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wasn't simply accompanying Charles to the US. She was attracting attention,

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winning praise, and connecting with people in her own right.

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Camilla feels she has put in years of hard work

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to earn that acceptance and that she's finally seeing the rewards.

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There's a real sense of vindication for her. Instead of

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constantly measuring herself against Kate or worrying about being overshadowed

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by her, she now feels secure enough to believe she

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has established her own popularity and doesn't need to remain

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in anyone else's shadow. Meanwhile, from Kate's point of view,

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an insider says, Kate simply doesn't view this through the

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same competitive lens that Camilla apparently does. She isn't impatiently

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waiting in the wings or looking for opportunities to establish

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herself as the most important woman in the royal family.

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Kate understands perfectly well what the future holds for her

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and William, and she knows there is absolutely no reason

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to rush towards it. If anything, she wants Camilla and

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Charles to enjoy a long and successful reign because that

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gives her the time and space to concentrate on her family,

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her health, and the causes she cares deeply about. Her

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focus is on supporting the king and queen and fulfilling

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her own responsibilities to the crown. The idea that she

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needs to beat Camilla in some sort of royal popularity

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contest would seem completely alien to her. Other people may

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obsess over who's getting the biggest crowds or the most

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flattering headlines, but Kate isn't keeping score. A somewhat conflicting

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report claims tensions are building between William, Kate and the Queen,

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with the speculation suggesting Camilla is increasingly concerned about what

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her position will look like once William becomes king. The

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report comes from She Knows, which points to what it

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describes as two recent signals from the Prince and Princess

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of Wales. William and Catherine's social media account did not

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publicly mark Camilla's 79th birthday, and Camilla was also absent

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from their recent collection of summer photographs. Heatweld, citing an

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unnamed palace source, goes considerably further, claiming Camilla believes William

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and Catherine intended to marginalize her when the reign eventually changes.

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Camilla is incredibly protective of her position, and her ego

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is incredibly fragile, so she doesn't react well to any

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sense that her power is at risk of getting usurped,

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the unnamed source claimed. She sees threats at every turn,

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and she would argue that her vigilance is for a

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good reason, because William and Kate are so openly covetous

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of the throne. She says she can practically feel them

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breathing down her neck. She knows the moment they take over,

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she will be pushed as far to the side as possible.

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According to Vanity Fair, William and Catherine were not given

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advance warning of Harry and Meghan's move. One source described

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William as deeply unsettled by the development. There's a sense

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that William is going to have to be watching over

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his shoulder the whole time. He doesn't know what his

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brother is going to spring on them all next. This

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was meant to be a happy time for him, Catherine

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is doing well and George is just about to start Eton.

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This has just derailed them. Charles is genuinely happy that

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Harry is back because it means they will see more

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of him and the children, but I do know that

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he is dreading the prospect of Harry resurrecting his battle

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with the Home Office over security and the sense that

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the Harry and Meghan soap opera is about to start

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all over again. Prince William is very concerned about the

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Sussexes coming back and why they have made the decision

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so quickly. He is adamant the situation must remain as

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it is and that Harry and Meghan will not carry

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out royal engagements. He has sought his father's assurance there

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will be no changes to the present situation. Royal biographer

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Andrew Morton believes Harry's physical return to Britain changes the

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pressure surrounding their estrangement. There have always been tensions between

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William and Harry, even before Meghan came on the scene,

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from who would get the biggest room at Balmoral to

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their charities. But those tensions are greater now than they

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have ever been. The brothers... are at opposite ends of

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the spectrum. By coming back home, Harry has changed the

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narrative and William is fuming. I think there will be

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pressure on William to be the bigger person and forgive

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his brother, but I think that is still some way off.

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In his monthly royal rankings, royal insider Deep Crown had

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Charles at number one and Harry all the way at

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number two. According to Deep Crown, the mechanism of his

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power has shifted from remote disruption to physical agenda setting.

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Consider what this means in practice. When an engagement is announced,

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someone must now determine whether Harry might attend and what

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happens if he does. When William considers his calendar, Harry's

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presence in the same country is a variable that did

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not previously exist. The Diana Awards situation illustrates this with

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some clarity. Harry is set to attend an event that

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William then chooses to avoid. The person who decides where

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the future King of England will and will not appear

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possesses a form of power that has nothing to do

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with titles or offices. More Palace in just a moment.

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For the news.com.au, Daniela also writes, In recent years, any

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mention of Harry and Meghan would bring anger. However, many

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are forgetting this one key detail. It's easy to forget

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just how good the Sussexes were. Bloody good, because they

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were sensational at the public royal game. Watching extended footage

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of Meghan in the Great Divide speaking at the launch

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of her very first royal project, the together cookbook supporting

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women who had lost everything in the Grenfell fire, you

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see a charismatic, charming and articulate woman who could have

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been the best asset the royal family ever invested in

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after buying NVIDIA early. Whatever the personal and family ructions

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and fallings out that were going on behind the scenes,

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no matter the fights over bridesmaid dress tights and who

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had to pay for their own sofa and why the

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Wales has got better crown moulding than the Sussexes, really,

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from the gimlet-eyed monarchy's point of view, These two were

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the 18 they never knew they needed. The addition of

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Meghan threatened to make Crown Incorporated appear shockingly relevant and contemporary.

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Undoing the image of dogged, daggy, duty ribbon cuttings on

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wet Wednesdays somewhere up the back of Warwickshire, the new

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Duchess was passionate about women's rights, ripped jeans and started

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her day hours before the official piper had slipped into

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his sporran. Together, she and Harry represented an opportunity for

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a once-in-a-generation renewal of the royal brand, Instead, Montecito real

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estate rocketed in value. Oprah got the interview of the century,

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and we learned that princes don't make for natural television producers.

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In purely practical terms, the palace's loss of the Duke

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and Duchess of Sussex is their greatest strategic blunder since

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someone let Richard II babysit his nephews in the tower.

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Harry and Meghan's potential to sell the concept of hereditary

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monarchy of unelected, soft-handed sorts enjoying ancient billion-dollar trust funds

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and Priceless central London real estate in return for occasionally

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planting a tree to younger generations was peerless. They had

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the potential to give Crown Incorporated the cool Britannia treatment

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and to make all of those nude hoes and polite

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nodding in garden parties somehow seem like the relevant and

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vital work. That loss is one that will have repercussions

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that will reverberate down to Prince George's generation. Sure, it's

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gooey and naff, but re-watch Old Harry and Meghan and

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you remember at the heart of all this, what started

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it all was a swoon-worthy love story. So will the

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Sussexes' family return to the UK, see somehow some sort

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of fairy tale? third act? Mother Goose hopes so. And

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there you have it. If you'd like to email us

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at addressesthepalaceintriguedgmail.com, if you're on Spotify, leave us a comment.

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If you're on Apple, hit that button that says listen

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uninterrupted and get the show commercial free for just five

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bucks a month. I'm Mark Francis. My thanks to John McDermott.

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This is Palace Intrigued. Good times.

Prince William ‘Fuming’ Over Harry’s UK Return as King Charles Welcomes the Sussexes Home

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