Prince Harry has either arrived in the UK as of this writing, or he will be there shortly. We’ve known for weeks/months that Harry would visit the UK for the annual WellChild Awards, and I assumed that he would also do some events with some other charities, like Scotty’s Little Soldiers. What I didn’t predict was that Harry plans to be in the UK for much of this coming week, and he has a somewhat public schedule. Meaning, a handful of British (and American, one would assume) media outlets will be allowed to attend his events, and some of the events might be public in some sense. This information comes from an overwrought exclusive by Roya Nikkhah in the Sunday Times. Some highlights:
Harry wants to bring his kids to visit the UK: Those close to Harry say he will not give up hope on bringing [his children] here. There is now an acknowledgment by the prince and his camp that pressing the nuclear button of a public battle with His Majesty’s government and courts was not the wisest idea, a case which is reported to have cost Harry more than £1 million. He will now pursue a quieter, under-the-radar approach — those close to the prince say the government should expect private “lobbying” from the prince on the matter to continue. A friend says: “He’s not given up hope on bringing his family back to the UK. He wants to be able to show his children where he grew up. He wants them to know their family here. He really would like to come back to the UK much more.”
His fun week: The prince’s friends say he is “going to have some fun” this week. Harry’s previous default setting of glowering in courtrooms will switch to what he does best: supporting and championing children, young people, the military and rolling his sleeves up with his charities and patronages. Tomorrow, the third anniversary of his grandmother’s death, he will be in London for the WellChild Awards hosted by the charity supporting seriously ill children, of which he is patron. On Tuesday, he will head out of town for an engagement focused on helping young people affected by violence. On Wednesday and Thursday, he will attend private receptions and meetings with most of his other charities and patronages, including the Invictus Foundation, the Diana Award and Scotty’s Little Soldiers, the charity for bereaved military children. Harry’s itinerary, which will be covered by select media considered friendly towards the prince, is said to be “jam-packed with hardly any downtime.”
No meeting between Charles & Harry is scheduled: A newspaper headline last week declaring “Harry to meet Charles” was wishful thinking. In fact, as of last weekend, no meeting between father and son was scheduled. That may or may not change in the coming days, but if a meeting happens, there is unlikely to be any public post-match analysis from either camp. Friends of Harry’s say the ball is firmly in the royal family’s court. “He’s made it absolutely clear he wants a reconciliation with his family. It’s on them now,” says one. But those in royal circles see it differently and wish Harry would stop making such public pleas. His unwise choice of words about Charles’s health and repeated suggestion that the King should have intervened in his security battle — something the monarch would never consider, given his constitutional role — have not helped Harry’s cause. As a friend of the King’s tells me: “The water is still pretty chilly on that front.” It is understood there is currently “no direct communication at all at the moment” between father and son.
Harry’s newspaper lawsuits: There is also an acknowledgment from those close to Harry that several long-running legal battles, which have taken up vast amounts of his time, energy and money, have been “a major distraction”. His fight with Associated Newspapers, publishers of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, over allegations of historical phone hacking and unlawful information-gathering, is set for a nine-week trial in January, but may end in an out-of-court settlement. With most of his legal preparation done for that case, friends say Harry is now “in a really good headspace, looking forwards”.
Looking forward: Friends say there is a “Sentebale-shaped hole” in his life, referring to the charity he set up in 2006 with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in memory of their late mothers, to support children affected by HIV and Aids in southern Africa. Since stepping down as Sentebale’s patron in March amid a very public and bitter row with the charity’s chairwoman, Sophie Chandauka, he has been thinking about how to fill that hole, either with a new charity or by working with another organisation. One close friend who may get a call is Sir Elton John, a firm friend of the Sussexes who previously lent them his villa in the south of France while they were working royals, and has been a vocal supporter of the couple since their departure from royal life. His eponymous Aids foundation has a global reach and could be a good fit for a prince looking for new ways to support children affected by HIV and AIDS.
The Sussexes’ money: Harry also needs to keep earning. A lot. Multimillion-pound deals for his book and with the streamers Netflix and Spotify are in the rear-view mirror, but there are still hefty security bills to pay and a reported £6 million mortgage on the Sussexes’ sprawling home in Montecito, California. As Harry receives no public funding from the sovereign grant or privately from the royal family, overseas trips, such as this week’s visit to the UK, cost him six-figure sums. He pays personally for the travel and accommodation of his entourage. Harry has rejected offers from the King to stay at Buckingham Palace and the hotel bills mount up. While Meghan, 44, is busy building her As Ever brand selling homeware, rosé wine and raspberry spreads, Harry is thinking about his next “commercial venture”. Those close to him say it will not be a sequel to Spare, or another tell-all Harry and Meghan Netflix documentary. His next project to boost the Sussex coffers will be a “social enterprise with a social conscience”.
Stepping on William & Kate’s nonexistent schedule: No such attempt has yet been made to open lines of communication with his brother’s team and Harry’s engagements this week will clash with William and Kate on manoeuvres. A source close to Harry says: “At the end of the day, as he’s no longer a member of the institution, he doesn’t feel bound to de-conflict his diary with the institution.”
This is the first I’m hearing that the Mail might settle with Harry. That’s interesting. As for his schedule, according to the BBC, Harry will travel to Nottingham on Tuesday, where he will announce a “substantial” personal donation to Children in Need. Which is a charity supporting “work tackling violence and its effect on young people.” It’s fascinating that he’s basically going to work more in a week than William and Kate have done in four months. As The Royalist Substack hilariously pointed out, “The Prince of Wales will likely view Harry’s re-entry into the charitable sphere in the U.K. as a direct encroachment on his territory. That Harry’s event comes with the promise of ‘substantial’ personal funding makes the point sharper still. He could be seen as doing precisely what William most fears: turning his independent wealth and celebrity into a power base within Britain.” Tom Sykes also wrote: “Given William and Kate’s ongoing withdrawal from almost all real, community-level public engagements, we will be left in the odd situation this week where the estranged son of the King will be the Windsor most visibly engaging with the country’s poorest young people. That is bound to irritate any family members already intensely uneasy about his return.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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