The Sussexes are expected to live privately outside London rather than in a royal residence and will continue the independent careers and family life they developed after leaving the monarchy.
Harry and Meghan’s royal fallout began six years ago
Harry and Meghan married at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in May 2018.
They quickly became two of the most recognisable members of the Royal Family, but intense media scrutiny and reports of tensions behind palace walls increasingly overshadowed their public roles.
On January 8, 2020, the couple announced that they wanted to step back as senior members of the Royal Family, become financially independent and divide their time between Britain and North America.
Following talks involving senior members of the Royal Family, an agreement was reached under which Harry and Meghan stopped carrying out official royal duties.
Their departure became official at the end of March 2020.
After spending time in Canada, they relocated to California and eventually settled in Montecito. Their daughter, Princess Lilibet, was born in the United States in 2021.
The Oprah interview changed the royal feud forever
In March 2021, Harry and Meghan took part in a widely watched interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Meghan discussed serious mental health struggles she said she experienced while she was a working royal and claimed she had struggled to access the support she felt she needed.
She also alleged that conversations had taken place within the family about Archie’s skin tone before his birth.
Harry and Meghan did not publicly identify the person involved, and Oprah later clarified that Harry had told her the comments were not made by Queen Elizabeth II or Prince Philip.
Meghan also disputed reports that she had made Catherine, Princess of Wales, cry before the Sussexes’ wedding, saying the opposite had happened.
Harry spoke openly about the deterioration of his relationships with his father and brother and about feeling trapped within the royal system.
Buckingham Palace subsequently said that the issues raised were concerning and would be dealt with privately, while noting that recollections of events could differ.
The interview marked a significant change in the royal dispute, with disagreements that had previously been reported largely through unnamed sources now being discussed directly by Harry and Meghan.
Netflix and Spare reopened the wounds
In December 2022, Netflix released the six-part documentary series Harry & Meghan.
The programme revisited the couple’s experiences within the monarchy, Harry’s relationship with the British press and the events surrounding their decision to leave royal duties.
Then came Harry’s memoir, Spare, in January 2023.
Among its most discussed claims was Harry’s account of a confrontation with Prince William at Nottingham Cottage in 2019 which allegedly became physical.
Harry also wrote about tensions involving King Charles and Queen Camilla and criticised some of the courtiers working around senior members of the family.
The memoir highlighted just how badly Harry’s relationship with William had deteriorated.
Harry later said there were additional incidents involving his brother, and to some extent his father, that he deliberately chose not to include because he believed revealing them would make reconciliation impossible.
King Charles’ cancer diagnosis created an opportunity for reconciliation
A significant development came in February 2024 when Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles had been diagnosed with cancer.
Harry quickly travelled from California to Britain to see his father.
Although the meeting was brief, it demonstrated that communication between father and son had not entirely broken down.
Another major obstacle remained: security.
After stepping back as a working royal, Harry no longer automatically received the same level of taxpayer-funded police protection during visits to Britain.
He challenged the arrangements through the courts, arguing that concerns about security made it difficult to bring Meghan and their children to the UK.
In May 2025, Harry lost an appeal over the way his security arrangements had been determined.
Following the ruling, he said he was devastated and told the BBC that, at that point, he could not see himself bringing Meghan and their children back to Britain.
During the same interview, however, Harry said he wanted reconciliation with his family.
Just over a year later, circumstances have changed dramatically.
Archie and Lilibet finally reunited with King Charles
On July 10, 2026, Harry and Meghan took Archie and Lilibet to Highgrove House for a private meeting with King Charles and Queen Camilla.
It was the first time Charles had seen Archie and Lilibet in person since 2022.
The reunion took place privately, away from cameras, and was viewed as a potentially important development in Harry’s relationship with his father.
There has been no comparable breakthrough involving Prince William.
Harry’s relationship with Charles therefore appears to be showing signs of improvement while his rift with his brother remains unresolved.
The Sussexes’ decision to spend substantially more time in Britain may now create further opportunities for Harry, Meghan and their children to have a private relationship with the King without requiring every wider royal disagreement to be resolved immediately.
Their return has received support too
Not everyone has characterised Harry and Meghan’s return as a defeat or reversal of their decision to leave royal duties.
King Charles is understood to welcome the opportunity to spend more time with his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren in a private capacity.
ITV News reported that Harry and Meghan will remain non-working members of the Royal Family and that their formal status will not change.
Education Secretary Lucy Powell publicly welcomed the family’s return, saying she hoped it could contribute to a wider reconciliation within the Royal Family.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham also wished Harry and Meghan well while declining to discuss the details of their security arrangements, describing the issue as a private matter.
For supporters of the Sussexes, the return offers Harry the chance to reconnect with his home country, allows Archie and Lilibet to develop stronger links with their British family and could provide further opportunities for reconciliation with Charles.
For critics, however, the fact that Harry and Meghan are back in Britain six years after their dramatic departure has inevitably reopened questions about how their post-royal life has unfolded.
And three recent developments have once again placed those tensions under the spotlight.
First blow: Commentator says return isn’t the ‘power move’ they thought
Royal commentator Kinsey Schofield has questioned suggestions that Meghan’s return represents a demonstration of increased influence or control.
Appearing on The Rita Panahi Show on Sky News Australia, Schofield argued that the Sussexes had previously overestimated their leverage.
Her argument centred on the fact that, six years after leaving Britain for North America, Harry and Meghan have ultimately chosen to return.
She said she was not convinced the decision represented the kind of “power move” some people had suggested.
The comments remain Schofield’s opinion rather than evidence of Harry and Meghan’s private thinking.
The Sussexes themselves have not publicly described their return as a strategic victory or “power move,” and reporting surrounding their relocation has instead pointed to family, professional and cultural considerations.
Second blow: Harry warned he may never get the apology he reportedly wants
Another issue concerns reports that Harry remains frustrated with certain members of his family and believes an apology is still owed over events surrounding his royal departure.
Those claims have been attributed to unnamed people said to be familiar with Harry’s feelings and have not been publicly confirmed by the Duke himself.
Royal biographer Robert Hardman has suggested that Harry could be disappointed if he expects senior members of the Royal Family to apologise.
Speaking about the possibility of reconciliation, Hardman indicated that rebuilding relations with Charles appeared more realistic than repairing Harry’s relationship with William.
That creates a difficult question for Harry.
If reports about his desire for an apology are accurate, it remains unclear whether he would regard one as essential to reconciliation or whether both sides might eventually agree to move forward without resolving every dispute from the past.
Third blow: Disputed Meghan claim risks reigniting row over royal privacy
The final controversy concerns privacy, an issue that has repeatedly complicated the Sussexes’ relationship with the Royal Family.
Martha Stewart recently discussed attending a California dinner party where Meghan was also a guest following the Sussex family’s trip to Europe.
That trip included Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet’s private reunion with King Charles and Queen Camilla at Highgrove House.
Stewart said Meghan had recently returned “from the palace” and indicated that she believed the Duchess had been talking about her trip.
However, that version of events has been disputed.
A source who said they hosted the dinner and sat beside Meghan told People that Meghan did not reveal details of the royal reunion and simply said that her family had enjoyed their European trip.
There is also an important factual distinction: the Sussexes’ meeting with Charles took place at Highgrove House, rather than at a palace.
Stewart herself acknowledged that she had only spoken briefly with Meghan.
As a result, there is currently no established evidence that Meghan disclosed private information about her meeting with Charles and Camilla.
The claim remains disputed.
Harry and Meghan’s UK return is more complicated than a royal comeback
Six years after leaving Britain, Harry and Meghan’s return was always likely to attract intense attention.
But describing the move simply as a defeat for the Sussexes ignores how significantly their circumstances have changed since 2020.
They have not asked to resume their former positions as senior working royals.
Meghan returns with her own professional projects and business interests, while Harry can continue his charitable work and reconnect with the country where he spent most of his life.
Most significantly, Archie and Lilibet will have greater opportunities to develop relationships with their British relatives.
Charles’ willingness to spend more time with the Sussex family also creates a genuine opportunity for Harry and his father to continue rebuilding their relationship.
At the same time, six years of public disagreements cannot simply disappear because the family has moved back to Britain.
Harry’s estrangement from William, reports surrounding his desire for an apology and continuing concerns about privacy demonstrate how delicate any reconciliation process remains.
The latest controversies do not necessarily mean Harry and Meghan’s return has already gone wrong.
Instead, they illustrate just how closely every decision the Sussexes make will be examined as they attempt something that once appeared highly unlikely: building a new life in Britain without returning to their former lives as working royals.