Prince William, Kate Won’t Get Involved In Harry And Meghan ‘Circus,’ Royal Insiders Say This Autumn

LONDON — Prince William and Princess Kate are entering a pivotal new season determined not to let Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s return to Britain distract them from their own path forward, according to royal insiders, even as the Sussexes’ presence in the country promises to complicate the family’s public calendar in the months ahead.

The comments come as William and Kate say a poignant farewell to Prince George this week, marking his first day at Eton College, the prestigious Berkshire boarding school William himself attended as a teenager. The milestone arrives alongside what royal sources describe as a broader shift for the couple, who appear more united than ever as they resume official duties following their summer break, and just weeks after Harry and Meghan’s unexpected return to the U.K.

Robert Jobson, author of “The Windsor Legacy,” told Hello! that William and Kate remain firmly focused on their long-term trajectory rather than reacting to developments involving the Sussexes.

“They are on a clear path and they’re thinking about what their future is going to be,” Jobson said. “They’re focused on the kids and their projects. They are on a steady path which leads to the ultimate job, the top job. Now they’re next in line, they’re facing what their position will be, and that will be essentially to prepare the reign that they want and how they want to do it. William will take the lead, but it’s going to be a team effort.”

Jobson pointed to the couple’s public unity as evidence of their strengthened partnership.

“I think they’re certainly stronger as a couple, but also as a family unit,” Jobson said. “You only have to look at them in public; they are very much a united couple and they’re very much doing their job. They really haven’t put a foot wrong. The way that Catherine has come back into the public eye was perfectly handled. They’ve got their image right, they’ve got their engagement at the level they want and they’re spending enough time with their kids.”

Addressing the Sussexes’ return directly, Jobson said he does not expect it to change William and Kate’s approach.

“I don’t think that, because Harry and Meghan are here making a bit of noise, that’s going to necessarily make them do anything,” Jobson said. “They’ll probably think, well, we’ve been down this road before; it creates a circus and we’re not going to get involved.”

Still, Harry and Meghan’s presence will be difficult to entirely avoid. The couple, believed to be living in the Cotswolds, flew into Birmingham last month in time for their children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, to begin school. William and Kate have their own busy autumn schedule of engagements planned, including William’s continued work on homelessness and mental health and Kate’s focus on young children and families, while Harry is expected to appear in London later this month at the WellChild Awards, an annual charity event for seriously ill children of which he remains patron.

Hello! royal editor Emily Nash said Meghan’s specific plans remain the more uncertain variable in the equation.

“What really fascinates me is what Meghan is going to do,” Nash said. “She’s essentially a private citizen here in the UK. Will she pop up with or for Harry? If she does, does that make it look more like they’re sort of imitating royal engagements? I think this could become a bit of a problem for them.”

Nash also flagged conflicting reports about Meghan’s potential return to acting, after British actor Theo James dismissed rumors that Meghan would join the third season of the Netflix series “The Gentlemen,” in which he stars, calling the speculation “hot air.”

“The other thing that I found fascinating was Theo James saying that all the rumours around her starring in The Gentlemen are hot air,” Nash said. “That whole sort of PR bombshell about her returning to acting very specifically linked her to that production in particular, and now, people at the heart of it are saying it’s not right. What is going on there?”

Based on her own sourcing, Nash said she expects Meghan to largely continue her existing pattern of activity.

“From the people I’ve been speaking to, I think Meghan’s plan is to carry on doing what she’s been doing,” Nash said. “I’m sure they’re working on some of the things they were doing with Archewell Philanthropies — the work she was doing around online harm, for example, I’m sure we’ll see more of that kind of thing. But do they really want to return to the kind of engagements that they turned their back on? And if they do, how are people going to react to it?”

Meghan is also continuing to build her lifestyle brand, As Ever, and remains patron of Smart Works, a U.K.-wide charity offering coaching and clothing to unemployed women and those on zero-hours contracts. Smart Works told Hello! it is “very excited to welcome the Duchess and her family back to the UK.”

One date likely to underscore the ongoing divisions within the family is the National Service of Remembrance on Nov. 8, when senior royals traditionally gather at the Cenotaph in central London. Having stepped down as working royals in 2020, Harry and Meghan will not be invited to join King Charles and other relatives at the official service, though Harry may choose to mark the occasion elsewhere, as he has done in Los Angeles in past years.

Jobson said any separate observance by Harry would risk highlighting the rift rather than easing it.

“That’s a problem, because if Harry goes somewhere in Oxford and does it, it’s going to look very odd, because it’s going to be an alternative moment,” Jobson said. “As a veteran, he will probably want to do that, so unless they invite them into the fold, which I don’t think they will at this moment in time, it creates an alternative which makes them look divided. You’ve got two conflicting households on the same patch, and that can’t possibly work. I think something has to give along the way. It’s whether they invite Harry back inside, and if that’s the case, then a lot of people won’t be very happy.”

Questions also remain over whether Harry and Meghan will be invited to Kate’s annual Together at Christmas carol concert at Westminster Abbey, or to join the wider family for festive celebrations at Sandringham.

For William and Kate, Jobson said the pair are more likely to stay focused on their own upcoming milestones, including a potential state dinner next month for the Sultan of Oman’s visit to the U.K., hosted by the King and Queen. There is also renewed talk of Kate rejoining William for international travel, with speculation she could accompany him to Mumbai in November for the Earthshot Prize Summit and Awards, which would mark their first major joint overseas trip since visiting the Caribbean in 2022, and Kate’s first appearance at one of William’s environmental events since Boston that same year.

“I think if she’s well enough to go, she will go,” Jobson said. “All the indications are that she probably will. It’s about time that she did.”

Jobson said he ultimately expects William and Kate to rise above any distraction posed by the Sussexes’ return.

“I think they’re going to rise above all this,” Jobson said. “I don’t think they’re going to be involved in a tit for tat. Harry has turned up and put the ball back in their court, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to play.”