Prince Harry is coming home. But before the welcome mat is rolled out, there are two rather important words conspicuously missing from his luggage: "I'm sorry".
You cannot spend six years taking a wrecking ball to your family, the monarchy and, at times, Britain itself, only to wander back across the Atlantic and expect everyone to develop a convenient case of collective amnesia.
Harry, 41, wanted out. Fair enough. He wanted freedom, privacy and a life beyond the suffocating constraints he said came with being royal. Again, his choice. But what followed was hardly a dignified retreat into obscurity.
Years of public grievances
There was Oprah. Netflix. Spare. Podcasts. Television interviews. Court battles. Private conversations became public property and deeply personal family grievances were served up to audiences around the world.
Harry was entitled to tell his story. But Britain is equally entitled to remember it. And after everything he has said and done since leaving, Prince Harry owes Britain an apology if he sees a future living here.
Harry did not simply decide royal life wasn't for him, wave goodbye and quietly disappear into the Californian sunset.
During the Sussexes' bombshell Oprah interview, Harry declared: "I was trapped, but I didn't know I was trapped", before dragging his father and brother into it too: "My father and my brother, they are trapped. They don't get to leave."
Then came his appearance on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast, where he compared royal life to "a mixture between The Truman Show and being in a zoo". The Duke also spoke about the "genetic pain and suffering" he believed could be passed through generations of his family.
These weren't throwaway remarks muttered after a bad day at the Palace. They went around the world.
Personal attacks on family
Harry's grievances were never confined to some faceless Palace machine. He made things painfully personal.
In Spare, he alleged Prince William physically attacked him during a confrontation at Nottingham Cottage, claiming his brother grabbed him by the collar, ripped his necklace and knocked him to the floor. Princess Catherine was pulled into the fallout too. The 41-year-old alleged that William and Catherine, 44, encouraged him to choose the Nazi costume he infamously wore to a fancy-dress party in 2005 and "howled" when they saw it.
Then there was his father. Harry told Oprah his family had "literally cut me off financially", although subsequent royal accounts showed Charles continued providing funding into the 2020-21 financial year.
Whatever happened behind those Palace doors, there was always an uncomfortable imbalance. Harry could sit opposite Oprah, sign a Netflix deal and publish hundreds of pages of intimate recollections. Charles, William and Catherine were hardly going to respond with Spare: The Other Side. Harry had the microphone. His family knew they would have to stay silent.
Privacy contradiction and return
Perhaps the greatest contradiction of Harry's post-royal existence has always been privacy. The Sussexes wanted freedom from the relentless scrutiny surrounding royal life. But Harry subsequently revealed details most families wouldn't share around the Sunday dinner table, never mind publish for millions.
He also chose to establish his new life thousands of miles away while his grandparents were elderly. Prince Philip died in April 2021 and Queen Elizabeth II followed in September 2022. Nobody could have known precisely how much time remained, and Harry retained a warm relationship with the late Queen by his own account. But his departure and the increasingly bitter public dispute with the institution inevitably unfolded during their final years.
And now we arrive at the U-turn. Harry's return with Meghan, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet has already renewed scrutiny of the couple's previous statements about Britain, particularly his insistence that security concerns prevented him from bringing his family back.
Harry is perfectly entitled to decide that Britain once again has something to offer his family. But the rest of us are equally entitled to raise an eyebrow.
Harry does not owe Britain an apology for leaving. Nor should he apologise for deciding that working royal life wasn't right for him. But he does owe one for the scorched-earth manner in which so much of his departure subsequently played out.
Reconciliation with his father is a private matter. Prince William will decide for himself whether his relationship with his brother can ever be repaired. But Harry's allegations weren't made privately. They were broadcast to millions.
So if the Duke genuinely sees Britain as part of his future again, perhaps his next big public statement shouldn't involve another grievance, revelation or explanation. Perhaps it should contain two words we haven't heard nearly enough. I'm sorry.
