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LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 28: In this Sport Gives Back Awards/ITV handout Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex appears at the Sport Gives Back Awards 2024 via a pre-recorded video at Cadogan Hall on February 28, 2024 in London, England. The Sport Gives Back Awards will be broadcast on ITV on Sunday, March 24th.
Photo by Handout/Sport Gives Back Awards via Getty Images

Prince Harry didn’t hold back when asked if he and Meghan Markle could ever return to Royal duties

Harry definitely isn't afraid to speak his mind.

When it comes to his Royal duties, Prince Harry has been remarkably clear about what it is that he wants. Ever since Megxit, he and his wife Meghan Markle have set off on a winding, twisting path to financial independence involving Netflix specials, poorly-received interviews, and Harry’s incendiary tell-all memoir, Spare.

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In fact, Harry’s memoir is considered by many sources close to the Royal Family and by Royal experts to be a major cause of Harry’s estrangement with the rest of the family. So it’s hardly a surprise that when asked whether he and Meghan could return to official Royal duties during promotion for the book, Harry had a blunt, no-nonsense answer for his interviewer.

Speaking to Good Morning America host Michael Strahan, Harry didn’t hold back with his response, saying: “No, I don’t think that it is ever going to be possible.” Alluding to a “third party” present in the relationship — namely the U.K. press, which Harry has major beef with — Harry was clear when speaking that he didn’t think a reconciliation that involves him as a working Royal is a possible outcome, even if the family drama could be solved.

At the time of Harry’s words, the feeling was most certainly mutual between him and the rest of the Royal Family. The break was acrimonious and highly public: the controversial memoir was only the latest in a series of allegations and from Harry, all of which cast the Royal Family into a bad light, and which William specifically was said to be extremely angry about — especially because of references to his wife, Kate.

Except it’s been two years since Spare released, and a lot has gone on since then. Has anything changed? Speaking in an exclusive to The Sun, Royal expert Charles Rae suggests that it is “down to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex” to attempt to rebuild any relationships, but that he thinks “there’s too much water which has gone under that bridge” for it to be a success. Other commentators agree, with some saying that Harry is “the last thing” that matters to William and Kate.

Fortunately for Harry and his relationship with his family, that doesn’t seem to be entirely true. King Charles looks to have softened his long-standing stance on Harry’s protection when in the U.K., while sources close to the Princess of Wales suggest that better relations with Harry are, in fact, quite far from the “last thing” that she wants. It looks like a familial reconciliation is possible.

The Royal Family is an especially weird example of a “family business.” It is an institution deeply rooted in the British state, where its members are not simply individual persons going about their lives, but who are instead meant to be living, breathing exemplars of the institution of monarchy. In this light, it’s incredibly unlikely that Harry and Meghan will want to return to the business of being a “working Royal.” There’s much more freedom outside the family firm. That said, the royal family is different from the Royal Family, and there is always room for reconciliation with family — especially if Harry is no longer forced into a role he doesn’t want to play.


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