The Times of London dusted off Valentine Low this weekend and tasked him with writing an exceptionally unhinged piece about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. As it turns out, an emotional-support poll was commissioned as soon as the news broke of the “secret peace summit” between representatives for the Sussexes and King Charles. Once again, there’s the conflation of “father and son are taking the first steps for reconciliation” with “obviously, the Sussexes are trying to come back to the UK to live and work!” That’s what the poll is about: “would the British public ‘support’ the Sussexes returning to the UK to become working royals?” Nevermind that the Sussexes have no interest in any of this BS and have “no intention of moving back to the UK.” You should have seen my expression when I read the first part of Low’s bonkers piece, as he spun out a fantasy of Meghan and Harry standing on the fakakta balcony for Trooping the Colour in 2027.

Low’s fantasy: It is a Saturday in June 2027, and the crowds have gathered outside Buckingham Palace to see the royal family watch the traditional flypast after Trooping the Colour. As the family gathers on the balcony, the eyes of the crowd — and, more importantly, the lenses of the photographers — are not focused on the King. They are not even watching Prince Louis, now nine, and still more than capable of stealing the show. They only have eyes for two people: the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, back in the royal fold after years of self-imposed exile in California. As the Sussexes stand there, Meghan offering her most dazzling smile while Harry yet again finds himself incapable of hiding the hint of a scowl, they are greeted with … well, what, apart from the incessant clicking of camera shutters? Cheers? Boos? Or a confusing mixture of the two? Shockingly, could it even be indifference? The Sussexes are not used to indifference.

The tantalizing possibilities: [The peace summit] immediately sparked much speculation about where it might lead. After years of hurling abuse at his family from the other side of the Atlantic, does Harry want to kiss and make up? Might Harry and Meghan be considering coming back to the UK — if not on a permanent basis, then at least for part of the year? Most tantalising of all, could they even be thinking about undertaking occasional royal duties? That is all a long way off. Even though Harry has appeared to have been in more conciliatory mood of late — talking of whether his family is prepared to forgive him, rather than peppering every interview with angry demands for apologies from them — neither of them have looked like they are getting ready to move back into Frogmore Cottage any time soon.

The emotional-support poll: But the intriguing question is: if they do come back, if only for a bit, how will they go down with the British public? Even if Harry is prepared to forgive and forget, are we? Up to a point, seems to be the answer. Nearly a quarter of people (24 per cent) think that it would be a good thing if Harry came back to live in the UK, according to a YouGov poll for The Sunday Times, while 22 per cent think that it would be a bad thing. By far the most common answer is, however, an indifferent one: 41 per cent said they don’t care, either way. But many people really do not like Meghan: 41 per cent think her return would be a bad thing, against 12 per cent who think it would be a good idea, though 35 per cent are indifferent. The over-60s are much more likely to be anti-Meghan, with 64 per cent of the 65 and over age group against her return compared with 17 per cent of 18 to 24s. There is a similar split on the question of whether they should take up royal duties again (32 per cent for Harry and 27 per cent against, and 14 per cent for Meghan and 48 per cent against).

Sarah Hewson on a potential Sussex return: “It really depends on how they come back, and on what terms,” Hewson said. “It would really take Charles as the King to pave the way for them coming back…Were there to be reconciliation with William as well, and were we to see forgiveness on all sides, then I think that people would be very happy to see Harry back in the bosom of his family.”

Tessa Dunlop on the potential Sussex reentry: “We were hurt. That’s why there was this vitriolic outpouring against Harry and Meghan. They dumped us, and it was really painful, so we slagged them off a lot. We would love it if they came back. If we didn’t care, if we thought they were total losers, we would stop taking an interest in them. But we loved them. We recognised their charisma and their star power.” It is, however, a complex picture. People will find it harder to forgive Meghan than Harry. But there will be a warmer welcome from the young, who were always more prepared to see Harry and Meghan as victims of a hidebound royal family rather than the instigators of their own downfall.

[From The Times]

Five and a half years after Harry, Meghan and Archie left, it turns out that all it took was one meeting between their representatives and Charles’s rep. That was all it took for every royal reporter to completely lose whatever tenuous grasp on reality they had previously. It really only took ONE WEEK to go from “maybe Charles and Harry will talk in person at some point” to “the Sussexes are going to appear on the balcony in 2027, and the British public will BOO THEM because everyone hates Meghan!” If anything, THIS reaction should give Harry pause, regardless of how much he wants to speak to his father. His father is partly in control of this story – Charles’s office clearly leaked details about the meeting, and Charles is now sitting back and watching as the press attack the Sussexes AND the Waleses. Harry has a pure heart – his father does not. Be wary of everything that comes with this attempted reconciliation, H.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.