So much for the old adage that there is no news in August (wrong, of course: Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914, the Great Train Robbery took place that month in 1963 and Diana died in August 1997).
The commentators, social-media warriors, Team Sussex/Team Wales tribalists and radio phone-ins now have inexhaustible material to keep everyone busy for the rest of the summer holiday: Where are the Sussexes going to live? Which school for the children? What will they do all day? What was the main reason for their return?
Inside the Royal Household, however, they will already be looking further ahead, charting potential problems before they materialise.
Buckingham Palace is an institution that likes to plan six months ahead. One event that will already have crossed minds in the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, which handles ceremonial matters, will be Remembrance Sunday.
There will be no place for Harry with the rest of the Royal Family on Whitehall or on the Foreign Office balconies because those places are reserved for working members of the family – who undertake royal engagements.
As a military veteran with two tours of active service under his belt, the Duke of Sussex, will, quite rightly, want to honour the fallen along with the rest of the country. But where and how? Whatever he does will incur accusations of seeking to upstage the King and the family.
Might he attend a service with his old regiment? Or might he choose to join one of the organisations with which he remains actively involved?
Perhaps he might join the contingent from Scotty’s Little Soldiers, the charity for bereaved Forces children to which he remains a devoted patron. Their annual appearance, marching past the Cenotaph in their black and gold scarves, brings a tear to the eye of the flintiest old soldier.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will return to the United Kingdom this month, six years after stepping away from their royal duties
The couple will, however, remain private individuals and a return to the royal fold is not thought to be in their plans (Harry and Meghan are pictured after their engagement in 2017)
Remembrance Sunday will no doubt be an occasion which Buckingham Palace have already started planning for – but how, and where, will Harry choose to commemorate fallen soldiers? (the duke is pictured before his 2007 mission in Afghanistan)
Or what about Christmas at Sandringham? Up to now, the non-appearance of the Sussexes has been easily attributable to geography: they were on the Pacific coast.
But if they are absent while living in Britain, it will be much harder to explain it away, especially when numerous other non-working members of the family are included in the house party. Some will accuse the King of being heartless; others will blame the Waleses.
In one regard, the Sussexes’ astonishing decision to return to these shores more than six years after narrating their own departure (in one of their own documentaries) as a ‘freedom flight’ is entirely true to form: they do love the element of surprise. Whereas, as all courtiers of old have learned, monarchs can handle almost anything but they do hate the unexpected.
Think back to the Sussexes’ announcement of their withdrawal from royal life, late on a January day in 2020, which caught everyone including the late Queen by surprise.
That followed the 2019 announcement that the Duchess had just gone into labour in London when she was already back home in Berkshire with her newborn son – leaving Palace staff and police unwittingly telling porkies to the Press.
Or those mismatched recollections on Oprah Winfrey’s sofa about an alleged racist remark by a member of the family (during pregnancy, according to the Duchess; years earlier, said Harry). Or the catalogue of family secrets tipped out into the public domain via Harry’s memoir, Spare, in January 2023 – at a crucial time midway between the King’s accession and coronation.
Each time, sources close to the couple explained that they could not share details with anyone, including family, for fear of leaks to the wicked media. It is hardly surprising that family, friends and staff found all the furtive plotting of such bombshells so disconcerting and unsettling.
No one, I understand, was more exasperated and dismayed by this than Prince William, an intensely private man. He might have his own issues with the media, yet he understands both that the Press is a fact of life in a free democracy and that a publicly funded monarchy has to be visible and relatable to its public.
For the moment, as Britain and the Sussexes renew their mutual acquaintance, we are presumably likely to see more, not fewer, surprises.
Nonetheless, I sense that, for the King and the monarchy, the positives outweigh the negatives as we examine the return of Harry and Meghan. Until the Sussexes illuminate us all in another interview/book/documentary, we can’t be wholly certain what lies behind yesterday’s announcement. But we can draw certain conclusions.
Harry’s greatest challenge upon his return to Britain will be rebuilding his relationship with his brother, Prince William (The ‘Fab Four’ are pictured in 2022)
Sources suggest that King Charles ‘welcomes’ news of his son’s return to the UK (Charles and Harry are pictured at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in 2022)
First of all, the couple have clearly decided that they want their children educated here rather than in America. That is about much more than a curriculum or the pronunciation of ‘tomato’ but about shaping a mindset and a sense of belonging.
Archie and Lilibet, currently sixth and seventh in line to the Throne respectively, will grow up feeling that Britain really is home, not an occasional treat. They will retain a broad international outlook through their American heritage, but they will come to absorb the norms and nuances of British life.
They will see their first cousins emerge from the relative privacy of their formative years and go through the usual rites of passage – possibly featuring some sort of military service – and ultimately grow into young members of ‘the Firm’.
As I have learned on several occasions from those close to the Prince and Princess of Wales, they believe that one of their most important duties – as important as William’s own preparations for becoming King – is ensuring George, Charlotte and Louis do not grow up hating or dreading their royal destiny.
If they succeed (and, thus far, they seem to be), then there is unlikely to be a royal role for the junior grandchildren of the current monarch. There has been none for the children of Princess Margaret (grandchildren of George VI) or those of the late Queen’s younger children.
But the relationships between all those royal cousins – seldom seen except on the balcony at the late Queen’s birthday parade – were important ones. The bonds between Harry and his first cousins – in particular Princess Eugenie – have been vital and enduring. To whom else can you turn for a proper moan about the pitfalls of a second-tier royal bloodline?
Similarly, for the King in his role as paterfamilias, closer contact with his younger grandchildren can only be a blessing. As Supreme Governor of the Church of England and a deep-thinking Christian soul, he will be ready to extend olive sprigs – as long as he is spared a futile reopening of old grievances.
The monarchy has learned to evolve and adapt after graver family crises – post-Edward VIII, post-annus horribilis, post-Diana, post-Andrew (thus far) and it can do so again.
Charles, the father who tried so hard to make things work as a single parent in the aftermath of tragedy, will be inclined towards a rapprochement. Wise Queen Camilla, for all the barbs she has received from the Sussex camp over the years, will support him.
For the King in his role as monarch, however, there are still caveats that will need to be clearly defined and agreed.
In recent years, it has been all but impossible for him to have any sort of normal dialogue with his younger son because of Harry’s role as a serial litigant. In particular, throughout Harry’s long-running court case (plus appeals) against the Government over the question of his family’s security on British soil, the King was constitutionally obliged not to take Harry’s calls.
Archie, seven, and five-year-old Lilibet have already enrolled at a British school ahead of the start of the academic year (The family are pictured together in December 2025)
Harry and Meghan’s return does not represent happy ever after. There will be bumps in the road, but a divided royal house is a diminished one (pictured in 2022)
As one senior royal adviser put it to me: ‘The King is the fountain of justice. If his son is suing his ministers in his courts then it’s impossible for him to have a normal chat, particularly given Harry’s track record of transmitting his own version of events.’
Every indication is that Harry’s days as a serial litigant are over. That has to be good for his relations with his father.
The greatest challenge, clearly, is rebuilding some sort of bridge with a deeply wounded Prince William. Perhaps they are wounds that will never fully heal but there have been moments of reunion, albeit through gritted teeth – not least after the deaths of Prince Philip and the late Queen.
Next year’s 30th anniversary of the death of their mother is a moment when the world will be reminded of two brave, traumatised young boys marching behind her coffin. Most British people, I would suggest, would like to see some sort of reconciliation in her name.
There is another component to all this in the form of the Spencer family. Both William and Harry have retained a separate axis with their cousins on their mother’s side. During his recent return to the UK, we understand that Harry took his family to the family seat, Althorp, and to Diana’s resting place.
We have yet to glean the Princes’ views on the upcoming book on Diana by their uncle, Earl Spencer, but both have long had a close and uncomplicated rapport with her sisters, Sarah and Jane, and their respective families.
Inevitably, this whole process will be harder for the Duchess of Sussex. She will be leaving the familiarity of home once again for a country that she had barely learned to love the first time round, and it is a feeling that remains mutual for many.
This is emphatically not a happy ever after – and there will be umpteen bumps in a long road ahead. But a divided royal house is a diminished royal house. Divisions remain – some perhaps insoluble – but as of today, those gaps have narrowed a little.
For that, as he enjoys the healing atmosphere of Balmoral – his happiest place on earth – the King can be grateful.
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