I feel like I’ve written about a million versions of this story in the past year, but here we are. As soon as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex left that musty island, the islanders have been telling themselves that Harry and Meghan will be back, that they’ll fail and they’ll be poor and everyone hates them. What actually happened was that Harry and Meg found a way to thrive even in a pandemic, and they’re never coming back. I should also note: most of the energy around the “they’ll be back” narrative was actually “HE will be back.” The British establishment was fine with saying goodbye to Meghan for good, but they convinced themselves that Harry would divorce Meghan, abandon his child and come back to them, begging for their forgiveness.

When all of those stories fell flat, then the British press devoted an insane amount of energy to “the one-year review” and “when will Harry be back to visit” and “when will Harry and William bury the hatchet.” It was said that the Queen was waiting for Harry to call to make an appointment for the “one year review” and she was going to demand that he come back for Trooping the Colour or Philip’s birthday or whatever. Harry never called. Which still cracks me up. So now the new version is “Harry will come visit but Meghan won’t come with him, which is terrible and yet it pleases the Queen.”

The Duchess of Sussex is ‘unlikely’ to accompany her husband, Prince Harry, when he plans to return to the UK in early summer. The sixth in line to the throne will almost certainly travel to see his family for the first time since the couple acrimoniously quit as working royals alone, multiple sources have told the Daily Mail.

Insiders stress that the couple’s plans have yet to be finalised and much depends on the pandemic and whether travel restrictions remain in place at the time. But their understanding, at this time, is that Harry, 36, will fly to the UK to see the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William – along with his niece and nephews – without Meghan and, probably, their son Archie.

Sources were at pains to stress that Meghan’s tentative decision not to accompany her husband is for ‘personal and practical’ reasons and is not in any way being construed as a ‘snub’. But if she decides not to travel it will save royal officials something of a diplomatic headache. The couple had been expected to attend key royal events in June, including Prince Philip’s 100th birthday celebrations and Trooping The Colour, the official celebration of the Queen’s 95th birthday.

Harry is also due in the UK in July for the long-awaited unveiling of the statue that he and William commissioned in memory of Diana at Kensington Palace. But there has been widespread, quiet concern that the couple’s involvement in the larger family events – and the inevitable public and media furore that would surround their appearance – could detract from the significance of such key occasions.

A source said: ‘It should be strongly stressed that there is still an element of uncertainty about this because of the unpredictable Covid situation, but the understanding is the duke is more than likely to come back on his own. This is a personal and practical decision by the couple, but it would certainly help officials navigate what is likely to be a fairly tricky situation.’

Another added: ‘Her Majesty made very clear when they left the UK that Harry and Meghan were still much loved members of her own family and would be very welcome to attend family events. That still holds true. Practically, however, it comes with the need for a certain amount of diplomacy. There is still a great deal of distance between Harry and many family members, particularly his brother. No one wants a repeat of the Commonwealth Service.’

A third source confirmed they had also been told Harry was likely to return home alone. ‘Harry wants to come back for The Queen and Prince Philip’s big birthdays. But it looks likely it will be just him,’ they said. ‘If Meghan comes back, the feeling is that it would overshadow the occasion. People would only be looking at the ‘drama’ of it all. Of course she would be welcome, but a decision not to come would postpone that headache for a while at least.’

[From The Daily Mail]

This is pretty funny, all around. Sources are bumfuzzled about who is snubbing whom or which invitations are being declined or whether they want to paint Meghan as “the bad guy.” I think what probably happened is that Meghan said a big NOPE to all of this and made it clear that she’s not going to be used by this petty clout-chasing family any further (I said what I said). And so now they’re clutching their pearls about how much DRAMA she would bring and so that’s why they’re happy she’s not coming. When we all know that if Meghan chose to, she could simply show up, take all the headlines, be on the front page of every newspaper and a certain Keen couple would throw a f–king fit about it. Meg also said “and you can take my son’s name out of your mouth too.”

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, WENN and Avalon Red.

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