bitchy | Mail: Many in royal circles are ‘fascinated’ by the Sussexes’ business ‘meltdown’

I’m breaking Becky English’s new Daily Mail piece into two posts, because I wanted a chance to talk about it in-depth. English gets a lot of the big briefings from all of the various royal camps, and a picture has emerged about the Windsors’ plans for 2026. The bulk of her piece was about the Prince and Princess of Wales versus King Charles and his courtiers. While there’s nothing like a full briefing war, it’s clear that Charles is not pleased with his heir. But then English makes it clear that Charles is taking some steps back from any reconciliation plans with Prince Harry as well. Basically, as soon as Charles’s health began improving, he stopped wanting to heal his relationships with both sons. English also had some info about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

So what about the two proverbial albatrosses around the Royal Family’s neck: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Prince Harry? Will 2026 see the former Duke of York cast once and for all into familial Siberia, while his nephew is brought in from the cold?

I am told the plan is that Andrew will be ‘out’ of Royal Lodge by Easter, when the Royal Family traditionally gather on the Windsor estate, helpfully avoiding another potentially tricky encounter. Whether he has a home to move into is another question. While I understand Marsh Farm at Sandringham, which was recently mooted as a possibility, is destined to be his new home, it is considered ‘quite small’ and needs a ‘lot of work doing on it’ to make it habitable and secure. And this has raised questions over whether this work can be completed by the deadline. This suggests the extraordinary prospect that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who remains eighth in line to the throne, could actually find himself homeless for a short period of time next spring.

‘The plan is that he will not be at Royal Lodge by Easter. But might there need to be an interim measure [as regards moving to Norfolk]? Possibly,’ a source nods. I’m assured he will not be going to live abroad, as has been speculated, but it seems as if his eviction from his Windsor mansion might not be the clean and quick break that was originally hoped.

There is also frustration that Andrew seems determined not to keep his head down despite his disgrace – choosing to start riding again where photographers are inevitably waiting and even going out in his car on Christmas Day. ‘It’s difficult to know if he is being deliberately provocative, utterly pig-headed or just plain stupid,’ an insider says. ‘Knowing Andrew, it could be any one of the three. But he seems unable to keep his head down. He really is a man with a habit of making terribly bad decisions.’

As for Harry and Meghan, while the palace likes to feign insouciance about their activities nowadays, many in royal circles are, naturally, fascinated about the seeming meltdown of their business and philanthropic concerns in the US – not least because it may have a direct effect on whether they try to come back to the UK with their tails between their legs. As this paper reports today, Harry’s return is likely as his camp believe they have won the right to police protection while here.

But I am told that efforts by the Sussexes’ (rapidly dwindling) PR team to suggest a father-son reconciliation is approaching, appear to be somewhat wide of the mark. My sources say that while the King would never wish his younger son ill and has been ‘pained’ by the circumstances around their estrangement, he also remains extremely ‘wary’ of welcoming him back, given events of the past few years.

Much has been made of their meeting at Clarence House in September, the first between them for 19 months. And while people are reluctant to comment on the ­circumstances – knowing how hysterical the Sussexes can be about (wrongly) perceived palace briefings and leaks – the impression I get is that the King felt slightly railroaded into it. In truth, he knew that if he refused to meet Harry then this would inevitably have been ‘weaponised’ against him at some point in the future. Better to meet and then retreat instead.

For what it is worth, Harry has dismissed reports that he felt like an ‘official visitor’ when he met the King as a media-led ‘invention’ designed to ‘sabotage’ reconciliation between father and son. However most in royal circles are firmly of the belief that for any meaningful rapprochement to be made, the Prince owes his father – and his family – an apology for the way he has behaved. And given this is unlikely to be forthcoming, the gulf between Harry and the Windsors remains.

Six years, a global smear campaign, thousands of bitchy and enraged palace briefings, several active palace schemes to disrupt the Sussexes, and all they’re left with is “many in royal circles are, naturally, fascinated about the seeming meltdown of their business and philanthropic concerns in the US – not least because it may have a direct effect on whether they try to come back to the UK with their tails between their legs.” With their tails between their legs? Almost like that was the explicit goal this whole time, to FORCE the Sussexes to come crawling back. And of course those people “in royal circles” are the ones doing the most to say that every staff turnover is a sign that the Sussexes will come back!

As for Charles’s “retreat” on Harry… as I said, Charles’s health improvement has shifted all royal gossip. Charles no longer has a sense of urgency to reconcile with Harry, and I hope Harry sees Charles’s new reluctance and it guides his actions too. I hope Harry also takes a step back and understands that Charles is always going to be a dogsh-t father.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.