COMMENT
When the Duke of Sussex sat down for tea with King Charles earlier this month, it was the most consequential finger sandwich since they served curried egg ones at the Yalta Conference. As the estranged father and son broke biscuits at Highgrove (along with Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, Prince Archie, Princess Lilibet and Queen Camilla), it was the strongest sign that the permafrost between Montecito and London was thawing.
Let peace and love reign! That was the message. News of the Highgrove meeting was a warm and fuzzy win for believers in forgiveness, the power of family, and the healing power of fruit scone.
But for anyone suggests we start strumming Kumbaya, even if you optimistically assume, when it comes to the King and the duke, we are witnessing the greatest restoration since England put the kibosh on being a republic and Charles II had to be retrieved from France, Harry’s return to the royal tent will only be short lived.
MORE: Shock: Andrew paid Queen Lodge with pepper
Why? Exhibit A, pillock-in-chief Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
What sadly unites Andrew and Harry is their Spare-dom. Both born a heartbeat away from the throne, both raised in the absolute highest thread-cotton, gold-plated, ermine-trimmed, bosom of royalty; both went to war; and both adored by the British people for their larky, laddishness. They were the Fun Ones with their bouncy blonde girlfriends, unlike their stick-in-the-mud elder brothers burdened by crippling responsibility and receding hairlines.
MORE: Insider’s expose Andrew’s ‘wasted’ life
Likewise, both Andrew and Harry, enjoyed most favoured child status of the monarch, no matter their B ranking on the royal totem pole.
However, both have also managed to fall bitterly afoul of their fuddy-duddy brothers, brothers who can and will dictate what titles they hold, their royal status, their access to royal real estate and whether they are ever again allowed within a hundred meters of the Sandringham maze.
For Andrew, the death of Queen Elizabeth marked not just the sad loss of a parent but saw him go from being shielded by an adoring mummy to having his entire life put in the hands of an all-powerful older sibling who had about as much time for him as a stray skin tag.
Charles was still being fitted for his training crown when the noise started coming out of Buckingham Palace about the Andrew gravy train being decommissioned. It might have taken a while to chip the former Duke of York out of his palatial home but today he is living in a plain Jane farmhouse, next to a bog, in miserable exile. He has no live-in staff, no job, no purpose, no titles and a brother who has no interest in answering his bleating calls.
See where I’m going here?
While Charles is King and with forgiveness being the flavour of the day, the coming months and years may well see Harry and Meghan re-establishing a foothold in the UK and finally getting the half-in, half-out model they ran up the flagpole in 2020.
But what the Andrew example should tell Harry is, it may well only be temporary.
Even though Charles’ cancer treatment is going so well he was able to reduce it this year, he is still mortal and the accession of King William V could, overnight, undo all of Harry’s gain.
Would the new King happily let his brother, who spent much of his autobiography throwing him and his wife Kate, The Princess of Wales under the bus, continue to bunk down at Buckingham Palace or enjoy quasi official sanction to do DIY royalling? The way things are looking now, on the day that Charles very sadly passes away (let’s hope, decades from now), Harry will be ejected, all over again, from the royal universe.
The signs are already there about how bleak things could look for the Duke of Sussex, with the Prince of Wales already letting it be known he does not even want Harry at his coronation.
The new King could also strip the Sussexes of their royal status. A friend of William’s told The Daily Beast’s Tom Sykes in 2024, “The titles will simply be removed when he is king. A way will be found.”
(Such a hardline fiat would extend to all non-working royals, Sykes further reported in 2025.)
You have to wonder, once Charles’ funeral is over, will William and Harry ever even be in the same postcode, let alone room, ever again?
What Andrew’s example should demonstrate to Harry is the reach and power of an irate Kingly brother to make their lives miserable.
Their UK lives, anyway. On Friday Meghan released a series of adorable photos of herself, Harry and their kids, soaking up the Portuguese sun and playing in the family pool. No matter what lies ahead for the duke when it comes to all the royal bells and whistles, at least he’ll always have love and the lovely jubbly life those Netflix cheques bought.
Daniela Elser is an editor and commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with Australia’s leading media titles.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.news.com.au ’
