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A Calorouga Shark Media. Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue.
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I am your host, Mark Francis for the BBC. Daniella
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Ralph reports that the Sussex family's visit to the UK
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in July was significant. As well as spending time with
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the King at Highgrove, Harry Meghan and their children, Prince
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Archie and Princess Lilibet, are said to have loved being
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with a family of Harry's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
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The children met their aunts, uncles and cousins. The visit
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to Europe, which included time in Portugal, where they have
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a home, was described to me as such a great
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time for the family it turned a possible move back
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to the UK into a firm decision. I am told
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that this move is not due to any problems in
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the US. It has been driven by the couple's desire
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to spend time in Europe nearer Harry's family, and wanting
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to educate their children in the UK. Schools have been
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chosen for Archie and Lilibet. New terms for virtually all
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schools in England staft By the second week of September.
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The Sussexes will need to settle in, so we can
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expect the family to be back in the UK within
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the next ten days. In the Express, Rebecca Russell asks,
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is this the ultimate strategic u turn or a sorry retreat?
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We can only wait and see. In what feels like
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something plucked straight from the pages of a Shakespearean script,
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the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are returning to the
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UK when this month? Whyatt's anyone's guess? The distance from
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his brother allowed William and indeed Catherine to quietly build
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their legacy, steer the monarchy through family health crises, and
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hold the firm together. So what now? We have a
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future king in William who has watched his wife and
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father be simultaneously made vulnerable by a sledgehammer of a
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disease while trying to keep the royal show on the road.
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We've watched him fight and make a real and long
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lasting change in how the monarchy has always run and
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become a devoted father to Prince George, Princess Charlotte and
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Prince Louis has achieved so much, So why is this
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reward the return of someone who has taken it upon
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himself to endlessly tell the world. How aggrieved he feels
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against his family in the UK. It really does begar
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belief when you think about it. The monarchy has moved
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on from the moment Harry and Meghan hit the self
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destruct button on that fateful day in January twenty twenty,
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as it must, and William faces one hundred more pressing
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tasks than worrying about the return of his troublesome brother.
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But the reality of the Sussexes being down the road
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is undoubtedly a bitter pill to swallow. Surely it can't
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just be the lure of the British school system, after all,
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not four years ago, Meghan declared that she couldn't ever
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imagine educating her children in the UK. How times have changed.
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Harry's isolation has been the heavy price is paid for
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his independence. You can air your a grievances, throw your
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toys out of the pram and write a four hundred
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page memoir to try and take your family down. But
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once you're out, you're out. What happens in the next
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few weeks will tell us every thing. Will he grow
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back into his role as the cheeky Harry the world
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once adored. We can only wait and see Undoubtedly, King
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Charles will be thrilled to have his darling boy back
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and build the long DeFore relationship he craves with his grandchildren.
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But Harry could be in for a tough lesson. The
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monarchy has learned to survive without him, so what he
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does next could be final. The search for Harry and
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Meghan's new British home is already narrowing, with two areas
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now being mentioned, most often the Cottswalds and Northamptonshire near
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the Spencer family estate at Althorpe Royal reported. Tom Sykes
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says the Cotswolds would make sense for Harry because of
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his long familiarity with the area. According to Sykes, Harry
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is very interested in the Cotswolds's obviously where he grew up.
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He knows the roads around there, he knows the back roads.
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Very importantly, he knows the pubs, and he has a
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lot of friends in the area. Still, it's also probably
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about the only place in the UK outside of London
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where Meghan might be able to friend some high end
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or high net worth Americans, because, as we know, Meghan
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didn't like the English very much, did she. She didn't
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like her experience in England. She found that people were snobby, rude, racist,
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and they didn't get her. Northamptonshire is the other obvious
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possibility because of Harry's renewed connection with the Spencer side
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of his family. Harry, Meghan and the children spent time
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at Allthorpe during their visit to Britain earlier this summer.
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The estate was Diana's childhood home and has belonged to
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the Spencer family for more than five centuries, and according
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to BBC Senior Royal correspondent Daniel or Ralph, that summer
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visit may have played a direct role in turning the
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idea of a British move into a firm decision, she wrote.
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As well as spending time with the King at Highgrove,
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Harry Meghan and their children, Prince Archie Princess Lilabeta said
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to have loved being with the family of Harry's mother, Diana,
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Princess of Wales. The visit to Europe, which included time
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in Portugal, where they have a home, was described to
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me as such a great time for the family it
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turned a possible move back to the UK into a
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firm decision. Also observed, writing in the Daily beast. The
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King's Office is briefing the Royal Rota, the official sanctioned
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press pool, that Charles only learned of Harry's move on
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Sunday and was taken completely by surprise. This is a
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frankly insulting claim. Harry is fifth in line to the throne.
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He is obliged to inform the UK's Home and Foreign
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Office of his movements and residents. His security arrangements, the
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subject of years of litigation and lobbying, are being reorganized
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around a permanent UK base. The government would have known.
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As with most things, Meghan is being mocked online. Back
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in twenty twenty two, Meghan told The Cut that she
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had serious concerns about what school life would look like
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for her children if the family remained in Britain. Journalist
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Alison P. Davis had accompanied Meghan on a preschool pickup
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for Archie in Montecito and described the contrast Meghan drew
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between California and the kind of attention she believed the
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family would face in Britain. According to Davis, Meghan believed
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she would never be able to handle school drop off
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or a pickup without it being a royal photo call
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with a press pay of forty people snapping pictures. Meghan
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then defended that concern directly, saying sorry, I have a
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problem with that. It doesn't make me obsessed with privacy.
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That makes me strong and a good parent protecting my child.
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Royal commentator Victoria Arbata noted this is quite a change.
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Crisis communications specialist Mark Borkowski told the Press Association that
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the Sussex's return is extraordinary, but warned that's simply bringing
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their old approach back to Britain could quickly create problems.
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Borkowski said, if we're going to see the typical Harry
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and Meghan three ring circus, then we need to know
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what happens when that is played out. This leads to
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a massive disruption, and ultimately, if they're going to use
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the same tools in the same way, they've got to
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come up with a different play in a different script.
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They're just repeating the sins of the past. If they're
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bringing that whole spin machine with them, then it's going
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to backfire. Borkowski does not believe the move should be
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interpreted as the Sussex is being welcomed back into the
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institutional royal family. He said the Royal family will push
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against this big time. They will not want them back
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in the camp. They've got to do this by themselves.
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I don't believe this is reconciliation with the royal household
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at all. I think William will be rattled. It's disruptive
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having the Kine and Enable story, isn't it. You've got
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the Errand brother back again and that's not going to
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be easy for William, particularly if Harry whips up a
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huge amount of support. As for Megan, Borkowski said she's
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giving up her life to be back in the UK.
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She has always been seen as that pantomime villain in
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some ways, but it's not her culture that she's coming to.
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So it's a massive sacrifice for the family and the
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kids to be here away from what she knows, to
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be thrown into a very critical world of her So
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big respect to her for doing that for the sake
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of the kids, I assume, and also the sake of
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the marriage or pallis In just a moment, Tom Sykes
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was quite making the round telling page six. It's a
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huge slap in the face for William and it does
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also create serious risks for the monarchy. What is what
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happened if Charles invites Harry to join the Royal family
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for Christmas. What is going to happen if Harry wants
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to attend the Remembrance Day celebrations. Sykes said he had
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suspected something was a foot, but never imagined it would
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be anything of this magnitude or it happening this quickly.
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He called the timetable for the move quite extraordinary, adding
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it is very clear that things haven't worked out in
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America and the way they thought they would. I think
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if there was another hundred million dollar deal on the table,
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they wouldn't be rushing home. Former Royal butler Grant Harold
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tells Casino Hawks we know Harry only told his father
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of his plans to return to the UK on Sunday,
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which is very short notice, especially as planning must have
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been going on for a while. It's shocking that he
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hasn't discussed it with his father. The only reason I
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can think of why he didn't tell the king because
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he didn't want Prince William to know. It's very childish,
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but I don't think he wants his brother to know
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what he's up to. And there you have it. If
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just five bucks a month, I'm Francis my thanks to
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John McDermott. This is powers intrigue and conturns