The return of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to the UK could open up the prospect of two rival royal courts, a commentator has said, as the rift between Prince Harry and Prince William shows no sign of abating.
Harry and Meghan will come back to the UK later this month in an unexpected move, which the duke's father, the King, was only made aware of four days ago.
Rapprochement with the King
It could be a sign of warming relations between Harry and Charles, who met in July when he visited the King and Queen with Meghan, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet at Highgrove in Gloucestershire.
There has been no such reunion so far with William, and the brothers have been estranged since Harry levelled a barrage of accusations against his brother, his wife, the Princess of Wales, the King and Queen.
There has reportedly been no interaction between the brothers since they were last seen together at the funeral of their uncle, Lord Fellowes, in August 2024.
Commentator's warning
Former BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt told the Press Association: "In the long term, the return of the Sussexes to the UK opens up the prospect of two rival courts – William's and Harry's. In the short term, Harry will be able to deepen his rapprochement with his father."
He suggested the Duke of Sussex's return could make his elder brother furious. "(Harry's) presence back home will make it harder for his brother to duck a reconciliation," Mr Hunt said. "The surprise return of Harry and Meghan is likely to have left William apoplectic."
The brothers were last seen together publicly at their father's coronation in 2023. Even the King's cancer diagnosis could not bring them together, with Harry flying thousands of miles from his Californian home to be at Charles's side in February 2024, but William did not attend alongside him.
Roots of the rift
The breakdown in the brothers' bond can be traced back to the early period of Harry's relationship with Meghan, when his then-fiancée had a falling out with the Princess of Wales in the run-up to their wedding. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan later described how Kate made her cry ahead of her wedding – the opposite of reports circulating ahead of the nuptials that Meghan had left Kate in tears at Princess Charlotte's bridesmaid dress fitting.
Reports of a fractious friendship between the two women were furthered in Harry's memoir Spare, when he claimed Kate, pregnant at the time with Prince Louis, said she was owed an apology from Meghan for comments she was suffering from "baby brain" due to her "hormones". Harry also shed further light on the row over Charlotte's bridesmaid dress, claiming in his book that the incident left Meghan "sobbing on the floor".
He also claimed his "archnemesis" brother, "Willy", physically attacked him and knocked him to the floor into a dog bowl in a row over Meghan's alleged rude behaviour, and that the King put his own interests above Harry's, and was jealous of Meghan and Kate. William likely would have taken Harry's disparaging accusations about Kate closer to heart than any criticism of himself, as he is protective of his family.
It remains to be seen whether the warring brothers can make peace and heed the words of Charles, who, according to Harry's memoir, told them after their grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh's, funeral: "Please, boys – don't make my final years a misery."
