The royal rota assembled like the Avengers this week, if the Avengers were stenographers to a wilting and culturally irrelevant institution. There’s panic seeping into every part of the coverage of the Sussex family’s return to the UK, and that panic is coming directly from the Windsors themselves. It’s worth noting, as always, that Prince William has a particularly nasty habit of forging his father’s signature in the press – quotes, thoughts and feelings ascribed to King Charles are all too often coming straight from William’s camp. Keep that in mind while reading through these highlights of Becky English’s big briefing in the Daily Mail:

Gritted teeth: And for all the honeyed words overnight about the King naturally welcoming the opportunity to see more of the Sussex family in a private and personal capacity, there is no doubt the news is being greeted by many in royal circles with an element of gritted teeth. It’s one thing for the King to quietly patch up their relationship from the opposite side of the Atlantic. But it’s quite another to have the entire family suddenly pitch up with a loud ‘howdy Grandpa!’ in your own back yard – particularly when wider family relations are still so delicate.

King Charles wasn’t working with the Sussexes! [There has been] a wave of online vitriol about His Majesty’s (supposed) role in enabling his younger son’s return, to the detriment of his heir. He has been variously described as weak and manipulated but also, inexplicably, as working hand-in-glove with the Sussexes. It has sparked distasteful speculation about King Charles’s health and whether Harry has taken a decision to ‘shore up’ his position before it is too late.

Ah, guess who chatted up Becky: Sources have scoffed at renewed claims that the King’s right-hand man, Sir Clive Alderton, is leaving as private secretary to the King and Queen because of his opposition to any reunion – calling it ‘another mad conspiracy theory’. Indeed, I can reveal that Sir Clive was actually integral to last month’s meeting between Harry and his father, despite being the victim of so much of the prince’s ire in recent years.

Harry never mentioned this plan at Highgrove last month: And yet it seems quite remarkable, does it not, that Harry brought his family to meet with his father for the first time in four years at Highgrove in early July and never thought even to mention that this plan was even on his radar? But that, my sources insist, is the truth of it. Not once was the issue raised or discussed, they say. And the move has now been presented to the sovereign as a fait accompli.

Meghan visited schools in the Cotswolds: It seems even stranger if what another source has told me is true: that Meghan privately visited two potential schools in the Cotswolds region for Archie and Lilibet during their visit here – and they had already earmarked a potential home belonging to a celebrity (for the record, I have not been able to independently verify either of these claims).

Royal reactions to the Reverse Sussexit: Reactions range from the amused (downright hilarity at the claim that Harry and Meghan have just proved their ‘half in/ half out’ model of monarchy can work… ‘surely their return is proof that it hasn’t!’), to the fearful. Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the Sussexes’ announcement, and there was an equally deafening silence from Kensington Palace. Indeed, sources have long made clear the Waleses have no interest in engaging with anything Harry and Meghan do or say.

Harry & Meghan cannot do “royal duties”: Meanwhile, there is a concern that back in the UK and in such close proximity to working members of the Royal Family, every move by the Sussexes will be dissected for the slightest hint of a return to official roles and provide a constant distraction to the real working royals’ public labours. For the avoidance of doubt, sources insist, the couple will not be undertaking any royal duties. The King, they say, is absolutely adamant on this. His only interest is protecting and prioritising what’s right for the monarchy and, particularly, what is right for his relationship with the Prince of Wales, says a friend. The Waleses are working royals and future monarchs. Harry and Meghan are not. And William’s feelings must and will be respected, I am told.

William still hates his brother & fears that there’s more to come: Needless to say, the Prince of Wales – currently holidaying with his family and the King at Balmoral – has no desire whatsoever to reconcile will his brother, as it stands. And few can blame him….There are others in royal circles with personal experience of dealing with the Sussexes who say they just can’t shake the feeling ‘there is more to this than we know’. ‘There always is with them,’ one sighed. There is also concern among some over the couple setting up some sort of ‘rival court’ to Buckingham and Kensington Palaces.

[From The Daily Mail]

I’m going back and forth about whether I really believe that Charles had no idea about the Reverse Sussexit before last Sunday. On one side, it could be true because the Sussexes know Camilla and Charles would have loved to leak that information. On the other side, it seems completely bonkers that Charles wasn’t “in” on this at some level. As for the insistence on “no royal duties,” as we’ve seen for years, William considers ANY form of work from Harry to be “royal work.” Whenever Harry visits one of his British-based charities or does any kind of private event, William hysterically sobs about how Harry is encroaching on his working-royal turf. That issue is about to explode in the coming year. As for Clive Alderton… boy, I do not know. I also feel like “there is more to this than we know” but much like William and Kate, we’re being kept in the dark.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.