Prince Harry and Meghan Markle UK Return Excluded: Royal Family 'Does Not Trust' Sussexes

A full-time return to Britain for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has been ruled out by a senior royal commentator, who says the wider Royal Family 'does not trust' the couple and would view any permanent homecoming as 'hypocritical in the extreme.'

Richard Fitzwilliams, a long-standing voice on royal affairs, made the remarks as speculation mounted over whether the Sussexes might relocate back to the UK following their recent high-profile visit.

The news came after Harry and Meghan touched down in the UK earlier this month, marking the Duchess's first trip to her husband's homeland since 2022. While the Duke spent nearly a week undertaking public engagements and greeting well-wishers, Meghan's experience was markedly different.

Due to the family's inability to secure armed police protection, she arrived later in the week with their two children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five. She made no public appearances despite original plans to do so.

The security row has defined the Sussexes' relationship with Britain ever since they stepped back from working royal duties in 2020. Harry lost his automatic state-funded protection and has fought a protracted legal battle to have it restored for family visits.

A confidential security assessment seen by outlets earlier this summer warned he faces a higher terror risk in the UK than in the United States, citing at least six plotted attacks and a large pool of potential stalkers targeting the family.

Royal Family Trust Issues Block Prince Harry and Meghan Markle UK Return Excluded Scenario

Fitzwilliams said he saw 'no chance' of the couple settling in Britain for good. 'Meghan would never consider it, the humiliation would be huge as their brand does attract worldwide attention and the public don't like them as shown by their abysmal ratings in recent polls,' he said.

He went further on the mood inside the institution. 'The Royal Family don't want them because, with good reason, they don't trust them. The Sussexes are ruthless and shameless, but they wouldn't try this. It would show Megxit for what it is, shallow, callous and, because it trades off their royal connections, which they were happy to attack so publicly, hypocritical in the extreme.'

It is a withering assessment, and it lands at a delicate moment. The family is thought to have enjoyed their time together in the UK, with some observers reading the trip as a potential precursor to a permanent return.

Fitzwilliams's intervention suggests the opposite. In his view, any such move would be politically toxic for the Palace and personally bruising for Meghan, whose YouGov favourability in Britain has languished in the low twenties.

Nothing is confirmed yet, so everything should be taken with a grain of salt. These claims have not been independently verified, so take everything lightly.

Alternative Plans Emerge as UK Return Excluded by Experts

While a British homecoming appears off the table, reports indicate Harry is weighing a different kind of relocation.

Sources suggest he is considering a move to Australia, where he reportedly hopes to serve as a representative of the King while preserving the personal freedom the family currently enjoys in California.

The idea is bold, some might say wild. It would allow Harry to maintain a public role tied to the Crown without the constraints of full-time working royal duties in London. Whether the Palace would entertain such an arrangement is another matter entirely.

What is clear is that the security impasse remains the central obstacle to any sustained UK presence. Harry's team has repeatedly argued that 'risk follows the person, not the place' and that safe accommodation alone does not constitute an adequate protective strategy.

A spokesperson said the independent Risk Management Board that RAVEC itself deemed necessary last November has still not convened, making it 'difficult to understand how the proportionality of the current arrangements can credibly be maintained without that independent assessment.'

For now, the door to a permanent return looks firmly shut. The Royal Family's distrust, allied to the security standoff and Meghan's reported determination to 'draw a red line' after what insiders described as a humiliating visit, means the Sussexes' British chapter is likely to remain a series of short, carefully choreographed visits.

And if Fitzwilliams is right, even those will grow rarer as the couple looks elsewhere for their next act.