For Harry and Meghan, going home might just reopen old family wounds

London: Prince Harry has been talking for more than a year about ending his long exile from the royal family. His return to Britain with his family looks like an important step toward making that happen. Or, at least, making the attempt.

“I would love reconciliation with my family,” he told the BBC in March last year. “There’s no point continuing to fight any more; life is precious.”

The trouble is that the divisions in the royal family are now so deep that Harry’s arrival on home soil next month, with his wife Meghan and their children, may only aggravate the tensions.

Prince William has not spoken to his brother for almost four years, according to widespread reports that their last conversation was around the time of their grandmother Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September 2022.

King Charles has met Harry several times face-to-face, most recently in July this year and September last year, since his son moved to California six years ago.

Even so, the King is not rushing to welcome Harry home like the biblical prodigal son. The response from Buckingham Palace was cool when the news broke in London on Wednesday night (early on Thursday, AEST).

The message from the palace was that Harry remained a private person with no royal duties: there was no “half in, half out” way to do the job. There is no plan to welcome the prince back to the life he led before he and Meghan left for California in 2020.

So the distance remains. The King was only told of Harry’s planned return on Sunday, according to several British reports. This was despite the fact that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are planning to put their two children, Archie and Lilibet, into school in England within weeks – hardly a decision taken overnight.

Perhaps Harry and Meghan just wanted to give the rest of the family a surprise.

The fate of the King’s second son has only limited consequences in practical terms. He is the fifth in line to the throne and therefore in the line of succession to be Australia’s head of state, but everyone knows his destiny. He spelt it out in the title of his memoir: he is the spare.

Even so, his actions shape the royal family. His return might bring stability to the Windsors if there is a way to welcome him back as part of the family but not a working royal. Or having him at close quarters might just exacerbate the dysfunction.

It is often said that Prince William and Princess Catherine are determined to prevent their three children from suffering the dynamic that has been part of the royal family for generations – the jealousy that arises between the heir and the spare. This theme is the subject of a magazine feature on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge every six months or so.

William and Kate are said to lavish equal attention on each of the children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. The idea is that they have a shared duty – and the younger ones might help George bear the burden of the monarchy.

Does having Harry closer to the family help that? Or hinder it? If Harry never gets over his resentment, why would William and Kate want him anywhere near their kids?