Poll backs Harry making first move as couple plan UK return

Developed over time first seen 2 months ago

· 2 months ago

A poll for The Mail on Sunday found that most Britons believe Prince Harry, rather than Prince William, should make the first move in repairing their fractured relationship, as the Royal Family gathers at Balmoral following confirmation that Harry and Meghan plan to relocate back to the UK after six years in the United States. Senior courtiers were said to be taken aback by the news, which King Charles was reportedly told about only the previous Sunday, and the announcement intensified scrutiny of the long-running rift between William, 44, and Harry, 41, who have not spoken since Queen Elizabeth's funeral in September 2022 and are believed to have had no contact for over two and a half years. Reports also claimed that Theo Rycroft, the King's deputy private secretary since February, had made reconciling the brothers his "number one task", though sources close to the King and William dismissed this as baseless.

The Find Out Now survey of 2,000 people found just 4% thought William should make the first move, against 31% who said Harry should, 27% who felt both should act equally, 11% who said neither should, and 28% who did not know. The same poll found 43% believed the Sussexes owed the Royal Family an apology for past comments, including claims made in Harry's memoir Spare and in their 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview, while just over a quarter disagreed. Harry and Meghan, who confirmed their return with children Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, are said to be hoped by some royal watchers to cross paths with William at a black-tie event hosted by The Diana Award on 18 September, though observers cautioned that courtiers' influence over any reconciliation remains limited.

Poll: most Britons say Harry, not William, should reconcile first
Comes as Harry and Meghan confirm they are moving back to the UK
Brothers have not spoken since the Queen's 2022 funeral

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Prince William and Prince Harry have been publicly estranged since their grandmother Queen Elizabeth's funeral in September 2022, a rift most commonly traced back to Harry and Meghan's 2020 decision to step back from royal duties, known as "Megxit". Tensions deepened further through Harry's memoir, which described a physical altercation with William, and the couple's 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview, in which they alleged that an unnamed royal had raised concerns about the skin colour of their son Archie, a claim William rejected as racist.

Harry, 41, and Meghan have lived in the United States for the past six years, while William, 44, remains heir to the throne alongside their father, King Charles. The brothers' relationship, and whether or how it might be repaired, has remained a subject of ongoing public and media interest, particularly given the King's own age and health considerations.

Any reported plans for Harry and Meghan to move back to the UK, or claims about efforts within the royal household to encourage reconciliation, would therefore be seen against this backdrop of a long-running and largely unresolved family dispute, one that has played out unusually openly for an institution that typically keeps such matters private.

Both sides, in good faith

The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.

The case for

Those who believe Harry should make the first move argue that he is the one who stepped back from royal duties and subsequently aired the family's private grievances in a memoir, documentary and television interviews, causing lasting reputational damage to relatives who are bound by convention not to respond publicly. On this view, having chosen to speak out, the onus of extending an olive branch reasonably falls on the person who caused the rupture, and a simple, low-key gesture of goodwill from Harry would carry real symbolic weight in beginning to rebuild trust with his brother and father.

The case against

Others argue that expecting Harry alone to apologise misreads the nature of the rift, since he and Meghan have described feeling let down and unsupported by the institution and by individual family members, including Harry's own claim of a physical altercation with William. From this perspective, genuine reconciliation cannot be one-sided: William, as the more secure and powerful party within the family hierarchy, could afford to be magnanimous, and lasting repair is more likely to come from mutual willingness to listen and compromise than from placing the entire burden of the first move on Harry.

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