Imagine the scene at Balmoral this summer: King Charles opening the doors of his most cherished retreat to the son who publicly trashed the family and the wife who branded it racist. It’s the kind of reconciliation plot twist that even The Crown couldn’t dream up—but is the monarch caving in too soon?
Prince William’s Fierce Resistance to Balmoral Invite
When Prince Harry returns this summer to mark a year before the UK’s 2027 Invictus Games, his wife Meghan, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet may also tag along. If they do, it’s rumoured King Charles and Queen Camilla may thaw the current icy relations, after years of the Sussexes’ bitter public score-settling, by extending an olive branch.
The venue of Balmoral is crucial—as Charles’ most personal residence, it signals ‘trust, forgiveness, and a genuine desire to heal,’ according to royal expert Rob Shuter. Royal insiders claim Prince William is ‘strongly opposed’ to the idea of rolling out the red carpet at Charles’ Scottish home.
For the Prince of Wales, it is ‘too much, too soon’ amid fears it could ‘reopen wounds that have barely begun to heal.’
Will we see Prince Harry reunite with the Royal Family anytime soon?
AFP News
William sees this as rewarding betrayal after Harry’s memoir Spare, the Oprah interview and multiple lawsuits against the press and family—fears it would undermine his own position as heir and send a message that disloyalty pays off. The human cost hits hard: trust shattered between brothers who once shared everything.
King Charles’s Olive Branch: Too Much, Too Soon?
But after years of a Cold War between the Californians in self-imposed exile and Buckingham Palace, can you blame Charles for wanting his wayward son back in the fold? At 77, with cancer treatment behind him, Charles craves time with Archie and Lilibet before it’s potentially too late—a grandfather’s heartfelt wish trumping palace protocol.
If you throw your toys out of the pram, is it the parents’ responsibility to pick them up off the floor and apologise for all the mess? If halfway through playing footie with your friends and 5-0 up you stroppily grab the ball and walk off home in a pique of petulance, should you be expecting your pals to knock on and say sorry?
When Harry, 41, and Meghan, 44, made their explosive Megxit, their desire was to escape toxicity, racism, danger and media scrutiny. Strangely, they opted for America, where you’re 100 times more likely to die from gun violence than in the UK.
Privacy-obsessed Harry once compared his royal life to a ‘mixture between The Truman Show and being in a zoo’, so they have spent years building a ring of steel while amassing their multi-million-pound fortune. That fortune, built on deals with Netflix and Spotify worth tens of millions, now faces scrutiny as their victim narrative loses steam without fresh royal drama.
Highgrove and Balmoral: The Ultimate Royal Reset?
While in the UK this summer, King Charles may offer Harry and Meghan the use of his Gloucestershire country estate, Highgrove House. Highgrove, where William and Harry grew up holidaying, offers neutral ground for tentative family barbecues and playdates—away from London’s glare, letting kids bond with cousins George, Charlotte and Louis.
Highgrove House (tick), a welcome visit to Balmoral (tick) and a king’s apology (lots of ticks!)—could Harry and Meghan have ever dreamt of anything more? Apart from Netflix filming the whole thing, I doubt it.
Some will rightly argue that ‘the Sussexes made their beds in the US—they can lie in them’. But if Charles does make his ‘kingly gesture’, two things are certain.
Firstly, Harry and Meghan can no longer argue they’ve been frozen out. And secondly, without the ability to position their ‘brand’ as US-based victims of a supposedly ‘mean, racist, royal institution’, will they have a sob story worth flogging anymore? The fallout could reshape their Montecito empire, forcing a pivot from grievance to something resembling maturity.