The Mail’s Allison Boshoff has another big exclusive about, what else, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their UK return. Boshoff had good sourcing on the “reverse Sussexit,” and she was the one to coin that phrase and report on the plan for a UK return weeks before it happened. Of course, I’m not sure if she still has good sources now that Prince Harry and Meghan are on Harry’s beloved “British soil.” If anything, it feels at times like Team Sussex is purposefully feeding misinformation to the British press. We’ll see. So, Boshoff’s exclusive is all about Harry and Meghan’s Nottingham visit and what it portends for their future.

The stark realization: Friends of Prince Harry and Meghan say that this small-scale return to public life with their first UK ‘walkabout’ since Megxit, has come with one stark realisation. ‘They know that some people have come to hate them, and that some people hate what they did,’ I’m told. That is a huge concession from Team Sussex, and was shared with me yesterday as their supporters sought to explain the significance of the Nottingham engagements – and what the couple plan to do next. I’m told the pair had feared the potential reactions of the crowd and were relieved to find a warm welcome, albeit from an admittedly small group. Of the 150 people or so gathered, around half were from the media.

The Sussexes don’t care about the haters: Friends, though, say the Sussexes are not concerned with the people they call ‘haters’ – they know there will always be those who enjoy criticising them – rather how they are perceived by those who are less engaged with royal drama. They are determined to win these people over with ‘low key’ and ‘respectful’ public events.

Harry requested that Meghan wear British designers: Prince Harry is apparently ‘very pleased’ with how the day went and was involved in planning, right down to requesting his wife wear British designers to show her allegiance to the country they call home again. ‘That was a royal visit even if it wasn’t,’ says his pal. ‘They were delighted with the warm welcome. H is delighted.’

Humble: And I can reveal that there will be more outings to come – news to make their enemies at the Palace shudder. Words like ‘humble’ are also being used. That’s what the pair were apparently hoping to convey – despite Meghan’s £3,386 outfit – with their meetings with grassroots charities. As for the idea that they may be treading on royal toes, that notion is swiftly, if not entirely convincingly, debunked. A friend of Harry and Meghan tells me: ‘They are making efforts to re-enter slowly with humility and hope to win support that way. There is no intention to thumb a nose at the King or cause irritation. This sort of work is what makes Harry happy, it is in his DNA. It is nothing to do with relations with the Royal Family.’

Meghan is now house-hunting: So uplifted were Harry and Meghan by their engagements this week that their circle feels a line has been successfully crossed in terms of public approval. The welcome, it seems, was warm enough for Meghan to start house hunting in the UK in earnest… Until now the family have been staying in a house on the estate of a wealthy friend on the fringes of the Cotswolds. Friends confirm they are searching for a new home with lots of land, no public rights of way and nine bedrooms at least. Their budget is £10million. A friend said this week: ‘I think we are going to see Meghan moving to look more actively at property soon. I know that they have an agent looking at what is available for them in terms of houses and he is sending everything which might suit to their team to look at virtually. I think it’s about to go up a notch.’

More visits like Nottingham: As for their public-facing endeavours, the friend adds: ‘They can achieve great support for charities and intend to do so. There will be more days like [Thursday] going forward. People want the old Harry, the Harry who they loved. This was a successful event with no narrative other than supporting the organisations. For security reasons it had the shape of a royal event but that is because, ultimately, that is who they are.’

They’re not ready to go back to America: The positivity expressed by pals runs counter to recent speculation the Sussexes might throw in the towel on this British adventure. Why? Well, one of the reasons behind the move, to spend time with Harry’s father, King Charles, seems not to have happened. They don’t appear to have seen each other since taking tea back in July. The King has been busy – with some reports suggesting he’s even too busy to take his son’s calls.

The Sussexes probably aren’t getting real security, but there has been some movement: Another key aspect to the move was Harry’s quest for security provided by the Home Office. Harry has spent six years in fruitless litigation over his desire for security. It seems that his hopes of resolving the security problem have faded as the summer passed. Friends this week suggest that Harry’s camp are bracing themselves for a yet another ‘no’. I am told: ‘The liaison team is significant. It’s not just a question of having a phone number to ring any more. There is a bit of a protective bubble there for them now and a pattern has been established. There is a liaison officer embedded with them and he can call on a team as and when he judges it is needed, so they do have more resources now in reality than before. It feels like a middle ground. It’s a support to them.’

The security situation in Nottingham: That sounds as if his team accept that the status quo may be as good as they are going to get. The Duke and Duchess travelled in a convoy of two Range Rovers with their own security while Nottinghamshire police provided support with one unmarked police car, one traffic police car and three community policemen on hand.

[From The Daily Mail]

The security stuff is interesting because everyone clocked the fact that police officers were on the ground in Nottingham, helping with crowd control and ensuring that Harry and Meghan moved from event to event pretty smoothly. I actually hope that Boshoff is correct there, that the Sussexes’ private security is already being supplemented by more police support. That makes sense. It also makes sense that the Home Office is going to keep slow-walking a decision on actual police security and that it will eventually be a “no.” Harry really blew up his credibility on the security issue for nothing but the same old bulls–t from the palace and RAVEC.

As for the rest of it – I believe Harry is pleased, and I believe that he sees Nottingham as his model for how to work and operate in the UK. The thing is, I also believed that other story, about how Meghan would only do events like Nottingham rarely, and she’s more focused on the kids and As Ever. Harry would prefer to do a lot more of these royal-style charitable visits, while Meghan has been done with this way of working for years. I really hope they aren’t buying a UK home. God. Just stay there for a year and GTFO.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.