Prince Harry's walking all over the King - the whole saga is becoming impossible to ignore
OPINION: Prince Harry's UK return has exposed an uncomfortable contradiction as tensions with the King threaten reconciliation, writes Alicia Liberty.
For years, Prince Harry has told us just how difficult life in Britain became for him and Meghan Markle. The scrutiny. The security fears. The photographers. The sense, repeatedly expressed by the Duke, that his family could not simply exist here without being pursued.
So when the Sussexes returned to Britain, I expected the circus. I expected Harry, 41, and Meghan, 45, to be batting away cameras, slipping through side entrances, hiding their faces behind car windows and being photographed every time they stepped outside. Instead, we have had almost complete silence. The Duke of Sussex has now been back in Britain for around two-and-a-half weeks and, remarkably, we have barely seen him.
His wife has not been photographed going about her daily life, their children have remained completely out of sight and even Harry himself has managed to move around with surprisingly little public intrusion. And that is precisely why I find the drama now unfolding around his return so difficult to stomach.
So a private life was possible after all
For all the years of complaints about being hounded, chased and unable to live normally in Britain, the past fortnight has quietly demonstrated something rather important: when the Sussexes genuinely want to disappear from public view, they seem perfectly capable of doing exactly that. If this is the quiet life they always said they wanted, they have just proved it was possible.
There has been no circus outside their front door. No endless photographs of Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. No daily paparazzi trail documenting every coffee run, school journey or family outing.
For a couple who have spent years talking about the unbearable pressure surrounding their life in Britain, that is quite extraordinary. And to be clear, I am not dismissing genuine concerns about security. He is the King’s son and remains one of the most recognisable people on the planet. But privacy and security are not the same thing.
The past few weeks appear to show that the Sussexes can live here discreetly when they choose to. They can keep their children out of the public eye. They can move around without constantly being photographed. They can seemingly disappear from view for days at a time.
So perhaps Britain was never quite as impossible as we were led to believe. Perhaps the bigger issue has always been control: when Harry and Meghan are seen, what is said about them and who gets to determine the terms. And that brings us neatly to the King.
Harry spoke to his father - but the tensions are already back
While reports initially suggested Harry had not been in contact with his father since returning to the UK, we now understand he did speak to King Charles during his first week back in Britain. That is significant - and, frankly, I am pleased to hear it. After everything this family has been through, even a private conversation feels like a small step in the right direction.
But the pair have still not reunited face-to-face and, barely two weeks into Harry’s return, familiar tensions surrounding his royal position are already bubbling back to the surface.
This is a man who has repeatedly spoken about reconciliation in recent years and publicly discussed wanting his father and brother back in his life. Yet he has now spent more than two weeks in the same country as his 77-year-old father, who is battling cancer, without seeing him in person.
Who does Prince Harry think he is? At some point, actions have to matter more than carefully chosen words about healing.
You cannot repeatedly tell the world you want reconciliation and then seemingly fail to make the most basic gesture towards achieving it. Arrange a private meeting. Do something.
Instead, Harry’s return has already become tangled once again in disputes about security and his position within the Royal Family. Then came the Palace clarification, issued on behalf of the King, reinforcing that Harry and Meghan remain non-working royals and private citizens.
The Sussexes subsequently responded, making clear their surprise over the communication. And suddenly the familiar cycle begins again.
Harry wants distance from royal life, but royal status remains a point of contention. He wants privacy, yet the way that privacy is defined remains contested.
He wants reconciliation, but according to reports has not even spoken to the King. It is becoming embarrassing.
The King cannot be expected to keep bending
This is where my sympathy increasingly lies with King Charles. The monarch is not perfect, and the Royal Family has undoubtedly made mistakes throughout this entire saga, but how many times can Harry demand that everybody else accommodate him while apparently refusing to accept the consequences of the decisions he himself made?
He and Meghan stepped away from working royal life. They wanted financial independence. The pair wanted the freedom to pursue commercial projects and create a life outside the institution.
While that was their right. Independence cannot mean keeping every privilege of royal life while rejecting the responsibilities that came with it. Nor can reconciliation mean Charles endlessly stretching out his hand while his son decides when, where and on what terms he wants to take it.
That is what increasingly feels so uncomfortable about this return. Harry appears able to live quietly in Britain. He appears able to protect his children from the cameras. He has supposedly spent weeks here without speaking to his father.
Yet somehow the King is still being pulled into another public argument over his son's position. At what point does enough become enough?
This family desperately needs peace
I do not believe most Britons want Charles and Harry permanently estranged. The King is getting older. Harry is his youngest son. Archie and Lilibet are his grandchildren, and every year spent fighting is another year they will never get back.
But reconciliation cannot be built around what Harry believes he is owed. If he truly wants his father back, forget the security rows, Palace letters and public statements. Pick up the phone. Make the effort. Behave like a son.
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The past two-and-a-half weeks have already proved one thing the Duke may not have intended: Britain can give him privacy. What remains far less clear is whether he can stop fighting the institution long enough to repair the relationship with the man at the centre of it.
At some point, Harry has to decide what matters more - the fame, the fortune and the battles, or the family he says he wants back.
