Prince Harry is reportedly experiencing “sleepless nights” before his upcoming visit to the UK next month. The Duke of Sussex is scheduled to attend a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games on May 8.
Royal expert and author Tom Quinn told UK publication The Mirror that the visit isn’t easy for Prince Harry as he prepares to meet his estranged family during his visit.
The Duke is usually accompanied by his wife Meghan Markle at Invictus events. Though she has been listed as a guest at the event, it remains uncertain if she will join him in the UK.
“Harry and Megan are having sleepless nights about what they should do when Harry visits the UK later this year – he will have to do something to acknowledge the huge difficulties his family is going through, but he won’t want to do or say anything that seems to imply anything less than wholehearted support for his permanently aggrieved wife,” royal expert and author Tom Quinn told.
The last time Prince Harry visited the country was to meet with his father King Charles after his cancer diagnosis, but Meghan stayed in California with their two children.
The publication stated that the visit lasted only 12 minutes, and Prince Harry did not visit his brother Prince William and his wife Princess Kate. Now, after Kate’s cancer diagnosis, the Duke finds himself in a dilemma.
Meghan and Harry have not returned to England together since the funeral of Queen Elizabeth in September 2022.
“Harry would love to patch things up with his sister-in-law and with his brother and father,” Quinn said. “He sees things far more calmly now he has had his say in Spare and in various interviews, but he just cannot think how to do it and keep Meghan on board.”
The royal expert stated that Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, definitely doesn’t want an apology to resolve the feud, but Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, ‘definitely does’.
According to Quinn, the Duchess of Sussex’s perspective on the fallout is quite different. The relationship between the two women has been intensely scrutinised following revelations in Prince Harry’s memoir, “Spare”. In the book, the Duke of Sussex recounted finding Meghan crying “on the floor” after an argument with Kate about bridesmaid dresses.
“William just thinks the whole thing is a storm in a teacup and can’t understand why his brother can’t get over the sort of spat that many brothers have to go through. Meghan and Harry feel hurt by the way they were treated when they were working members of the royal family and William and Kate feel they were treated poorly once Harry and Meghan left and Harry published Spare,” Quinn stated.
