ROBERT HARDMAN: This is not a happy ever after – and there are still bumps in the long road ahead. But a divided royal house is a diminished royal house. Divisions remain – but as of today, those gaps have narrowed a little
Robert Hardman's Daily Mail commentary reflects on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's planned return to the UK, six years after they stepped away from royal duties, and considers the practical and symbolic challenges this poses for the Royal Family. He argues that while the couple's homecoming does not amount to reconciliation, a less divided royal house strengthens the monarchy overall, even as significant tensions and unresolved issues persist beneath the surface.
The piece highlights forthcoming flashpoints Buckingham Palace must navigate, given its practice of planning ceremonial matters six months in advance. Chief among these is Remembrance Sunday, where Harry, a military veteran with two tours of active service, will have no official role on Whitehall or the Foreign Office balconies, as those spaces are reserved for working royals. Hardman speculates Harry might instead join his former regiment or the charity Scotty's Little Soldiers. He also raises the question of Christmas at Sandringham, noting that with the Sussexes now living in Britain rather than California, their continued absence from royal gatherings would be far harder to explain away.
- Harry and Meghan are returning to the UK after six years away
- Remembrance Sunday poses a dilemma: no official role for Harry
- Christmas at Sandringham raises questions now they're UK-based
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The homecoming to the UK of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, six years after they gave up official royal duties in 2020, is at the centre of this story. Their move from California back to Britain raises questions about how they will fit back into royal life, particularly around set-piece royal occasions that are planned many months ahead by Buckingham Palace.
The key figures are Prince Harry, a former working royal and army veteran who served two tours of duty, and his wife Meghan, alongside the wider Royal Family, including King Charles and the working royals who continue to carry out official engagements. Since stepping back, Harry has lost the formal role he once held at events such as Remembrance Sunday, where places on the Whitehall and Foreign Office balconies are reserved for working members of the family.
This matters because the Sussexes' return brings long-running tensions within the Royal Family back into public view, even as it is seen by some as a small step towards easing years of division. Practical questions, such as whether Harry will have any role at Remembrance events or whether the couple will be included at family gatherings like Christmas at Sandringham, are becoming harder to avoid now that they live within reach of these traditions rather than thousands of miles away.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Those sympathetic to a warmer reintegration argue that Harry remains a genuine military veteran with two tours of active service, and that excluding him from Remembrance Sunday's official balconies or from Christmas at Sandringham risks looking petty and prolongs a public rift that serves no one, least of all a monarchy that prizes family unity and reconciliation as core values. They contend that with the Sussexes now living in Britain, continued visible estrangement becomes harder to justify and that small, generous gestures of inclusion would strengthen the institution's image and heal genuine personal wounds.
The case against
Those urging caution argue that ceremonial roles and ceremonial spaces are reserved for working royals for good institutional reasons, and that protocol should not be reshaped by sentiment or optics alone, especially after public criticisms of the family via memoir and interviews. They contend that trust, once damaged, must be rebuilt gradually and privately before formal honours or prominent public roles are extended, and that the working royals who have shouldered duties consistently deserve protection of the distinctions that recognise that service.