A Central London royal correspondent on the Sussexes’ return, their first joint UK appearance and the quiet negotiations that will decide what kind of royals they now are
The Return Nobody Quite Planned For
For the past few years, any royal correspondent writing about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has been writing about California. That has changed. The family has settled in the United Kingdom, the children are reported to have adjusted well, and the royal press is now preparing for something it has not covered in a very long time: the couple’s first joint public appearance on British soil as residents rather than visitors. Recent round-ups of royal coverage, including the royal news recap for 12 October, have been dominated by speculation about when and where it will happen.
The London Prat, characteristically, got there first, with a piece on Harry and Meghan’s return to Britain and their charity visits in Nottingham. A community recording studio in St Ann’s, a teenager singing about peer pressure, a hug, a ninety-year-old woman with a framed photograph, a unicorn balloon and, inevitably, a full analysis of a belt. The piece is affectionate towards the visit and merciless about the circus around it. Having spent more hours than I care to admit standing behind barriers in the rain, I recognized every detail.
Residents, Not Visitors
The difference between visiting and living here is not trivial. A visit is an event, with a beginning and an end. Residence is a relationship. It raises questions that a week-long trip never did. How often will the couple appear in public? Which charities will they support, and how visibly? Will they attend family occasions as a matter of course, or by invitation? What security will they have, and who will pay? Each question touches sensitive negotiations between the couple, the palace and the government, and none of them has a simple answer.
The Prat’s Nottingham piece captures the core dilemma neatly. Whatever the couple do, the reaction is already written. If they appear warm and informal, critics will say they are campaigning. If they stay out of sight, critics will ask why they came back. The young people at the St Ann’s studio, who simply wanted someone to listen to their song, are the only participants in the story with no agenda at all.
Family Relations
The most important relationships are, of course, the private ones. The Duke has spoken publicly in recent days about the pressures of fatherhood and his own mental health, and he has long been open about the difficulties in his relationship with his father and brother. Proximity may help. It is easier to meet for lunch when you live a few hours’ drive away rather than a long-haul flight. It may also make tensions harder to avoid. In a small country, every encounter, or absence, is noticed.
Palace officials have historically preferred to say very little about family matters, and there is no reason to expect that to change. What can be said with some confidence is that both sides have an interest in avoiding public conflict. The monarchy has had a turbulent few years, including the illnesses of both the King and the Princess of Wales, and the institution’s appetite for further drama is limited. The couple, for their part, have chosen to come back, which suggests at least some hope of a calmer chapter.
Charities And Public Work
The Nottingham visit offers a clue about how the couple may approach public life here. Rather than formal engagements with the full apparatus of royal duty, they appear to be favouring community projects, youth organizations and causes connected with mental health and wellbeing, which have long been central to their work. That is a model closer to celebrity philanthropy than to traditional royal patronage. It may suit them. It may also create friction with an institution that guards its patronages carefully and does not always welcome freelancers.
What The Public Thinks
Opinion polls over recent years have suggested that the couple are more divisive in Britain than most senior members of the royal family, with views varying sharply by age. Younger Britons have tended to be more sympathetic, older Britons more critical. Living here will test those views in a new way. It is one thing to form an opinion about a couple on television in another country. It is another to encounter them in a community centre in your own city.
The Prat’s ninety-year-old woman with her framed photograph is a reminder that, for many people, the royal family is still personal. She did not come for the controversy. She came to see a prince she has watched since he was a small boy walking behind his mother’s coffin. Whatever the politics, that emotional connection remains part of the story.
The Correspondent’s View
My own view, for what it is worth, is that the return is an opportunity for everyone involved to lower the temperature. The couple have a chance to show a quieter, more local kind of public service. The palace has a chance to show that the family can accommodate difference without crisis. The press, including my corner of it, has a chance to cover them as residents rather than as a soap opera. I am not confident all three will take it. But I would like to be surprised.
You can follow my reporting on the royal family and the monarchy on my author page, where I will be covering the first joint appearance when it comes, from behind a barrier, in what will almost certainly be rain.
A Note From The Mall
Walking along The Mall this week, I passed a group of tourists asking a police officer whether Prince Harry lived in Buckingham Palace now. The officer said no, very patiently. They asked where he lived. He said somewhere else. They asked whether he would visit his father. The officer said that was a matter for the family. It was, I thought, a perfect summary of the palace communications strategy, delivered by a man in a helmet who had clearly been asked the same question all morning.
