It’s been interesting to watch British and American media center Prince William within the story of the Sussex Return. It happened quickly too, once the initial shock of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s return-to-the-UK announcement passed, the feeling of “oh wow, Prince William is going to be FURIOUS.” Even mainstream outlets like the Wall Street Journal are framing it that way too. The WSJ had a piece this week called “Prodigal Prince Harry’s Return to U.K. Poses Dilemma for William.” It starts with fears of a rival royal court and ends with royalists’ self-soothing argument that history will not remember the Sussexes. I kid you not.

Low-wattage William & Kate: In Harry’s absence, William and his wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales, took over the mantle in polling as Britain’s most popular royals. The couple have devised a low-wattage approach aimed at not rocking the boat in a bid to show that unshowy duty is what Britons want from their royal family. Despite this demure exterior, former employees say the Sussexes and the Waleses have spent years monitoring one another from afar on social media, jostling to capture favorable headlines.

The far-away problem: In California, Prince Harry could be treated as a faraway problem and was largely ignored by palace courtiers, who routinely refused to comment on the verbal grenades launched by the man fifth-in-line for the throne. The Sussexes’ return to the royal threshold means this strategy will likely have to be revised.

Pressure on William: Once back in Britain, royal watchers say, there will be growing pressure for William to extend an olive branch to his younger brother while their father, who is 77, continues to undergo treatment for cancer. A poll released Monday in the U.K. showed that 58% of those surveyed in Britain wanted the royal siblings to reconcile, further adding pressure on the royal family to bring the king’s younger son back into the fold.

An unprecedented rival royal court: “It is unprecedented in a modern sense,” Andrew Roberts, a British historian and royal biographer, said of Harry’s return. The Windsors have traditionally dealt with awkward family members by keeping them abroad, he added, as was the case with Edward VIII after he abdicated and lived out his days with his American divorcée wife in France. The big question now, Roberts said, is whether the Sussexes try to steal the limelight in England, casting themselves as a trendier celebrity alternative to the establishment royals—a modern version of a rival court. “Under those circumstances, William might have cause to be worried.” A person close to the Sussexes said the notion that they would set up a rival court was “utterly ridiculous.”

William’s leverage: William, for his part, has said nothing publicly on the matter since the Sussexes announced their return to British shores. But longer-term, the heir to the throne has leverage over his brother. Should he become king, William might choose to prune the royal family tree, removing the HRH titles from the Sussex children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, though not cutting them out of the line of succession. “Harry’s historical irrelevance in the long run is guaranteed,” wrote Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton in a recent Substack. “How many people could name King George VI’s four brothers or his sister? How many people under 30 could pick out Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, or Prince Edward, in a lineup?”

[From The Wall Street Journal]

It’s true that very few people could pick Sophie or Edward out of a lineup. It’s also true that the average Briton doesn’t check for William or Kate, despite their careful “low wattage approach” (lol). The thing about William’s “leverage” is that they presuppose that people only pay attention to the Sussexes because of their titles, and once the titles go away, so will the attention. Considering the global attention the Reverse Sussexit has already gotten, that argument is hilariously stupid. In the same breath they’re acknowledging the still-titled Edward and Sophie’s lack of appeal, they’re saying Harry & Meghan are nothing but titles. Ha. Still, it’s interesting that “a source close to the Sussexes” rejected the idea of a rival royal court. It’s funny because Harry and Meghan have had a rival royal court this whole time, it’s just been in Montecito. All of this goes to a larger point: the Windsors still do not understand that they’re operating in a global media market, and that everyone outside of the UK can see their behavior.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.