Buckingham Palace has been warned to watch its back after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle met the King at Highgrove House this month, with the couple purportedly trying to carve out a "half-in, half-out" role in the Royal Family.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were in the UK earlier this month with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet and met King Charles and the Queen at Highgrove. The meeting has been suggested as a possible start of an attempt by the Sussexes to ingratiate themselves further with the Firm, despite the late Queen Elizabeth II expressly forbidding a hybrid role for the couple before she died.
Royal editor warns Palace to 'watch their backs'
Speaking on the Daily Mail's Palace Confidential podcast, royal editor Rebecca English said: "I think this is where the Palace do have to watch their backs slightly, because I think, I wasn't around last week to discuss some of the the fallout from the trip... but I think it's worth noting I don't think any reasonable person would object to a father seeing his son and a grandfather meeting his children, you know."
She added: "Putting aside everything that's happened over the last year, there is a personal family relationship."
"But I think the palace does need to be alive to the fact that there is a lot of concern that that meeting will be used [by Harry and Meghan] as a way to inveigle themselves back into this half-in, half-out role," she continued. "Not maybe in the short term, but in the long term, and I think that's something people both in the UK and around the world are deeply concerned about."
"And I know the Palace has gone into this with the best of intentions [but] I don't know about the thinking on the other side, and I think that's just where they need to watch their back a bit."
Harry to be offered Buckingham Palace room
Harry will reportedly be offered a room at Buckingham Palace for his next visit to the UK in September. He was previously offered a room for his visit at the start of this month, but the offer was later revoked after he accepted it at short notice.
The prince is set to return to the UK for a string of engagements in September, including an appearance at the annual WellChild Awards. Sources have indicated that Harry is set to accept the offer to stay at Buckingham Palace well in advance this time, The Sun reported.
