Jan. 30, 2026

Sussex Marriage Strain as Harry and Meghan Reportedly Clash Over the Kids

Show Notes
Transcript

Meghan and Harry face renewed criticism after their film Cookie Queens credits list them by their Sussex titles, reigniting debate over commercial use of royal branding. Radar Online then claims the couple’s most serious private disagreement centres on how visible their children should be, with sources saying Harry wants tighter boundaries while Meghan favours a carefully managed level of exposure. Insiders warn the issue remains unresolved and emotionally charged. We also examine competing narratives about Harry’s future, including his own insistence that he is happy in California, concerns about financial pressure and career direction, and commentary questioning what comes next once his long-running legal battles against the UK press finally end.

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Calorogus, Shark Media Yo, and Welcome to Palace Intrigue. I

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am your host, Mark Francis. Megan Michael and Prince Harry

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have sparked renewed criticism after being credited with their royal

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titles in their latest film, Cookie Queens. Meghan and Harry

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are listed as executive producers, with the films opening titles

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referring to them as Megan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry,

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Duke of Sussex. The use of the Sussex titles prompted

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anger online, with critics questioning whether the couple are breaching

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the agreement reached when they left royal duties. Under that arrangement,

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they retained their HRH styles, but agreed not to use

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them for commercial purposes. One social media user observed, it

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looks so very pathetic, very desperate. Harry is said to

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be locked in what sources describe as his most brutal

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fight yet with Meghan over how visible their children should

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be to the public. Dispute friends of warned Radar Online

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could alter but end their marriage if it remains unresolved.

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The disagreement has reportedly intensified since December, when the Duke

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and Duchess of Sussex announced they were renaming their organization

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Archwell to Archwell Philanthropies, saying the shift would allow them

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and their children to expand their global charitable work as

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a family. The wording raised eyebrows, as Harry and Megan

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have sent much of the past five years shielding Archie

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and little Bit from public view. After stepping back from

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royal duties and relocating to California in twenty twenty, and

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insiders that the issue has become a recurring flashpoint. A

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source close to the couple said, this is an issue

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where they are fundamentally pulling in different directions, and no

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matter how many times they think they have parked it,

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it resurfaces again. That is why it has become their

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most brutal fight. Yet it strikes that their identities as

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parents and what they believe their children's lives should look like.

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If neither of them is willing to bend people around them,

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fear it could be the thing that finally breaks the marriage.

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The love they have for Archie and Lilabit is unquestionable,

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but that's love makes every conversation heavier, more emotional, and

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far harder to resolve. Our royal inside a deep crown disagrees,

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telling us whatever tensions may exist in Montecito, and one

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suspects they are considerable. I remain entirely convinced that the

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Duke of Sussex will not leave his children under any circumstances.

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He has constructed his entire post royal identity around the

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narrative of breaking cycles, protecting the vulnerable, and being the

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father he needed, rather than the father he had. To

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abandon that role would be to invalidate the very justification

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for everything he has done since twenty twenty. He did

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not endure years of public opprobrium and familial estrangement merely

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to replicate the patterns he claims damaged him. One of

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the marital difficulties arise and marriages to encounter difficulties. His

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commitment to remaining present in his children's lives is the

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one certainty in an otherwise uncertain situation. The institution lost him,

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the children will not. Harry has previously spoken about the

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psychological toll of growing up under intense public scrutiny, describing

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his childhood as being a zoo in a disconnected bubble,

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and has spoken openly about therapy and breaking cycles of

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pain and suffering. Those close to him say that history

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explains his firm stance, and insider said Harry's protectiveness is

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rooted very deeply in what he experienced growing up, and

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those scars are still raw for him. He carries a

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lot of unresolved anger about how exposed and packaged his

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childhood felt, and that has made him acutely sensitive to

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even the slightest hint of his own children being treated

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in a similar way. From his perspective, there is no

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middle ground on this. Shielding Arching a little bit from

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that world is not optional. It's a core responsibility, he

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believes he owes them as their father. If it were

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entirely up to him, the children would be kept almost

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completely out of view, with their lives unfolding privately until

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they are old enough to decide for themselves. Harry understands

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that total anonymity is unrealistic given who they are, but

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his default reaction is always to tighten the boundaries as

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much as possible. He is deeply opposed to the idea

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that Archie and Lilibert should inherit any sense of duty, expectation,

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or pressure simply because of their birth, and he is

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determined to spare them that unseen burden, while Meghan has

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carefully curated how the children appear, blocking their faces on

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social medium the exposure. In a Netflix series with Love Meghan,

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she said to believe total invisibility creates its own problems.

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Van say Meghan is adamant there is no carefully plotted

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agenda behind how the children appear. She sees it as

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wanting the flexibility to include them in every day moments

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without it being framed as some calculated reveal the insiders said.

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The source added Harry was the driving force behind keeping

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their faces hidden online, but Megan often counters that their

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royal cousins are openly present on social media and play

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a visible role in the broader royal image, which makes

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total concealment feel inconsistent and, in her view, unnecessary. From

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Meghan's perspective, keeping the children almost entirely out of sight

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creates its own problems. She feels that acting as though

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Archie and Lilibet are invisible only invites more curiosity, gossip,

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and scrutiny from the outside world. She would prefer a

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carefully managed level of visibility, particularly as archable philanthropies expands

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and becomes more family focused. The Insider concluded Harry has

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not shifted from his position at all, and the standoff

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has sparked some very tense, mostly charged discussions behind closed doors.

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Another source said that disagreement reflects deeper differences in how

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the couple responds to pressure. At their core, they respond

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to challenges in completely different ways. Harry's reflex is to

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protect and pull inward, while Meggan's is to create, expand

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and move forward. This disagreement is not an isolated flare up.

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It keeps resurfacing in different forms. They are being cautious

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in how they handle it, but it remains one of

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the most difficult and unresolved issues in their marriage, and

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there is a real risk it could harden into a

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power struggle if neither side is willing to compromise more

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palace in just a moment. There were reports earlier in

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the week that Harry doesn't really do anything in America,

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suggesting he was miserable. However, last year, Harry told The Guardian,

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I think parts of the British press want to believe

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that I am miserable, but I'm not. I am very

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happy with who I am, and I like the life

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that I live. It is only in certain elements of

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the press where you see this talk about me being

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down or saying I am not smiling. This comes from

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people who think they know what I am thinking and

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how I am feeling. They are wrong. Royal commentator Josh

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Rohm raids concerns about the Sussex's of financial pressures. Rom

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told Sky and News they have massive overheads that they

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have to pay just a mated two to three million

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dollars a year for their private security. They've got a

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huge mortgage payment with estimates saying ten million dollars on

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their big Montecito mansion. I've heard sources that he Harry

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has been trying to look for more speaking engagements, maybe

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doing corporate speaking sort of stuff. When it comes to

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his career, Harry, it doesn't appear that he's got that

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solo venture. In the news dot co dot UK, Daniel

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Elsa wonders for years, the Duke of Sussex has been battling, battling,

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battling the UK press, waging a passionate campaign to hold

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the sections of the British Fourth Estate to account, regularly

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citing his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, hounding and the

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ring of that Megan was often put through. Taking on

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the media, he has said, is the fight of his life.

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But what happens when that fight is over? This A

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and L case is the last and reportedly final round

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in his year's long slog against parts of the media.

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He has no independent commercial projects on the books, and

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the only indications about what he might do now with

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his time are that he has taken up surfing and

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taken up giving speeches at places like Toronto Real Estate

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Conference in Los Angeles Business Lunch. Meanwhile, currently on the

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shared archwall production slate or adaptations of rom com bestsellers

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Meet Me at the Lake and The Wedding Date for Netflix,

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neither of which seem like natural passion projects for a

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former army captain who can probably chug a pint dinner

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near record time, and it's never publicly known to have

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read a book. In the eyepaper, Jenny Bond wonders, has

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Prince Harry finally slain the demons that have raged within

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him for so long? Has this once oh so angry

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young man found an inner piece in his forties? I

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think perhaps he has, or at least that he's on

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the road to redemption. I simply don't buy the idea

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that Harry is lost and lonely in California. He is free, rich, privileged,

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and married to a beautiful woman who seems to love

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him very much. Together, they are bringing up the children

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he yearned for in a world of great luxury and comfort.

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The Duchess of Sussex posted a video apparently shot by

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their younger daughter, Lilibet, which showed them looking carefree and

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dancing romantically in the garden of their Montecito home. Surely

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that beats a royal walkabout on a cold, wet January

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day in Britain. Who wouldn't be happy and then inhabit

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Like to email us or addresses the Palace Intrigue at

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We're all over social hubs. I Mike Francis mean. Thanks

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to John McDermott. This is Pallas Intrigue and good damns.

Sussex Marriage Strain as Harry and Meghan Reportedly Clash Over the Kids

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