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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are planning a year-long thaw in relations with the rest of the Royal Family – but not until Harry’s contentious memoir is out and the couple’s hotly-awaited Netflix series has premiered, it has been claimed.
Their plan to reconcile with their estranged relatives comes within weeks of the Queen’s state funeral, which forced Harry and Meghan to make a swift return to the royal fray after playing a minor role in the Jubilee celebrations.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had hoped to reconcile with the Queen next year, but were never able to do so, The Sun reported.
It comes after PR and communication experts suggested the Sussexes had been trying to seize the moment to dictate their own narrative – a clear reference to the couple’s blitz of podcasts, interviews, Netflix series and Harry’s promised biography.
And just last month reports emerged that Harry had pleaded with his publisher to U-turn on a series of bombshell claims critical of his family in the upcoming memoir.
There are fears the final version ‘might not go down well with the public’ in the wake of the Queen’s death.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also face a ‘make or break’ TV test in the form of the release of a fly-on-the-wall documentary for the streaming giant Netflix, it was reported.
The Sussexes are pictured hand in hand during a visit to South Africa in October 2019, one of their last trips as working royals
The Prince and Princess of Wales are pictured at Trademarket in Belfast on Thursday as part of a royal visit late last week
An insider familiar with the show told The Telegraph: ‘This is about where they’ve come from, what they’ve been through and where they are.
The couple’s upcoming Netflix series will be fly-on-the-wall
‘I think it will explain a lot about the decisions they’ve had to make and how they’ve ended up here.’
When Harry was an Eton schoolboy, he edited his own newspaper full of facts about the Royal Family.
It’s thought he will finally be able to ‘control the narrative’ once again in the form of the TV series, the newspaper added.
Meanwhile the memoirs had been signed off ready for an expected autumn release, but the Duke – who is writing the book as part of a near £40 million three-title deal – allegedly asked to make some significant alterations.
‘Harry has thrown a spanner in the works,’ a source said. ‘He is keen for refinements in the light of the Queen’s death, her funeral and his father Charles taking the throne.
Harry reportedly sought last-minute tweaks to his memoirs, which are to be published by Penguin this autumn
Publishing sources suggested the Duke might have limited ‘wriggle room’ given he was handed a seven-figure advance. Charles and the late Queen Elizabeth II are pictured in Edinburgh in late June last year
‘There may be things in the book which might not look so good if they come out so soon after these events. He wants sections changed now. It’s not a total rewrite by any means. He desperately wants to make changes. But it might be too late.’
Publishers Penguin Random House had already demanded a rewrite after the first draft was deemed ‘too touchy-feely’ and placed too much focus on mental health issues, The Mail on Sunday revealed last month.
The development comes as another new book makes a series of explosive claims about Harry and his wife Meghan – although it’s not clear whether the Duke now plans to address any of these fresh allegations in his memoirs, which he has billed as an ‘accurate and wholly truthful’ account of his life.
No date has officially been announced for its release but American sources have suggested that publishers will want it in shops in time for Thanksgiving on November 24, ready for the lucrative Christmas market.
A truce appeared to be in place when William invited his brother and sister-in-law to join him and wife Kate on the walkabout in Windsor as an expression of ‘unity for the Queen’, but, the body language suggested the rift was far from healed
Harry and Meghan have also spent more time with the Royal Family since the Queen’s death than at any time since Megxit more than two and half years ago
In a statement announcing the global publishing deal, Penguin Random House described it as ‘an intimate and heartfelt memoir’, promising that ‘Prince Harry will offer an honest and captivating personal portrait’.
The publishers added that the book would cover Harry’s ‘lifetime in the public eye from childhood to the present day, including his dedication to service, the military duty that twice took him to the front lines of Afghanistan, and the joy he has found in being a husband and father’.
Harry and Meghan have also spent more time with the Royal Family since the Queen’s death than at any time since Megxit more than two and half years ago.
They were in the UK for non-Royal charity events when Her Majesty died on the day before they were due to fly back home to Montecito, California.
In the aftermath of his grandmother’s death, Harry struck a fragile truce with his brother William – appearing together for a walkabout among well-wishers in Windsor following the funeral.
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