A return for Meghan Markle, if it actually happens, could drop like a lead balloon with the British public. She torched her bridges in her husband’s homeland, above all, it seems, through the couple’s conduct toward the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in their final years. Publicising this family trip for the Invictus one-year-to-go event in Birmingham looks like an attempt to put the King in a tight spot. After years of setbacks in California, it may just have sunk in, even to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex: without the royal connection they ditched, their draw is limited.
Media reports over the past few days frame a July visit for Meghan and Prince Harry as a homecoming, with the children, Archie and Lilibet coming along. Many will be sceptical. Harry founded Invictus in 2014 and built it into a respected platform for wounded veterans from his own army days. That endeavour still earns credit. Tying the Birmingham countdown to a Sussex family spectacle pulls the focus away from the veterans. They should stay the main focus.
British opinion of the Sussexes understandably turned sour early. Their 2021 Oprah interview levelled racism allegations against the royal family that lacked solid evidence. Harry’s damning memoir Spare cashed in on private family matters. The pair demanded privacy while selling their exit story abroad.
Polite endurance is the best reception Meghan Markle could possibly hope for
The pair’s relations with the late Queen and Prince Philip in their final years also left a bad taste in the mouths of many. Royal biographies such as Revenge: Meghan, Harry, And the war between the Windsors, written by Tom Bower in 2022, reported that the Sussexes’ departure and public statements added strain on the beloved elderly couple who were considered national treasures.
Meghan, who was pregnant at the time, did not attend Prince Philip’s funeral. Bower recorded the Queen’s reported response: ‘Thank goodness Meghan is not coming.’ Harry, once close to both grandparents, let it happen. Many in Britain and throughout the globe who cherished the late Queen and her husband will neither forget nor forgive. The Sussexes have, in the past, accused Bower of ‘deranged conspiracy and melodrama’.
The pair’s time in California since stepping back has delivered uneven results. The reported $20 million (£15 million) Spotify deal wrapped up in 2023 after one series of Archetypes. Netflix released several projects, some tied to Invictus, but none matched the early hype. Lifestyle efforts like Meghan’s lifestyle brand – originally named American Riviera Orchard – grabbed attention yet delivered little lasting momentum. Their Montecito house and its costs roll on. The tide has turned in the US. Once supportive media companies have become sceptical of the couple as their public brand wanes.
Harry continues to be held at arm’s length. He was nowhere to be seen at the Trooping the Colour events in London last week. Furthermore, King Charles’s US state visit did not include a meeting with his son; both were in America but no reunion was planned.
Highlighting the Sussex children’s involvement after years of limited contact with their British relatives comes at a pointed time. It leaves King Charles in an awkward position. He has kept some private contact with Harry despite his own health battles. A public family appearance risks looking like a concession after years of sniping from the Sussex side.
Taxpayers are entitled to watch the security costs closely. Harry lost automatic publicly funded protection when he stepped back from royal duties and moved to America. His court battles have brought mixed results. Any special provision for this trip would restart arguments over public money for people who chose to walk away. The veterans deserve an occasion focused squarely on their service, not tangled up in separate talks about protection and the full gamut of Sussex drama.
The monarchy has thrived on dignity and duty. Personal demands and branding exercises are bad optics in this realm. Harry showed he understood that in his Sandhurst years and Afghanistan deployments. Subsequently, he chose another road. Britain has no obligation to restore relevance, security funding, or public goodwill to the Sussexes on request after such a clear break.
If Meghan does step back onto British soil with the children, polite endurance is the best reception she could possibly hope for. The bridges were burned and dynamited. There is also reputational risk for the palace in any steps toward reconciliation. After all of the unforgivable behaviour the Sussexes unleashed against Crown and country, it would be difficult to countenance a full-throated rapprochement. But rather than that, the latest noise is likely more motivated by the couple’s recognition, late in the day, that royal cachet was the only thing keeping the Sussex brand afloat. Without it, the Californian dream has proven hollow.
Britain will surely support genuine service to veterans. However, it is under no obligation to provide the stage, the security, or the forgiveness to a couple who rejected, disparaged, and now needs it once more. It can back Invictus and the veterans without giving Harry and Meghan a fresh platform for reinvention. The public will make its own call – if and when the moment arrives.
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