RICHARD EDEN: Meghan and Harry ‘plot’ and why Prince William and Kate have REALLY hired a crisis expert. There’s trouble ahead…

When The Mail on Sunday revealed at the weekend that Prince William and Catherine had hired a crisis-management expert, Liza Ravenscroft, many readers will have been left bemused.

Why on earth would the Prince and Princess of Wales need a crisis manager when they are the calm amid the royal storm?

King Charles has to deal with the continuing, sordid scandal of his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And the King must do so while still undergoing treatment, although now reduced, for an unspecified form of cancer.

By contrast, the Prince and Princess of Wales have no such problems. They are deeply grateful that Catherine is now in remission from cancer and are enjoying life at their new Windsor home, Forest Lodge, where they moved last November and which they hope will be their ‘forever home’.

William has settled into his role as head of the Duchy of Cornwall, the vast private estate valued at more than £1billion, and Prince George is due to start secondary school in September (probably at William’s alma mater, Eton College).

William and Catherine are more respected than ever and regularly top opinion polls as the most popular members of the Royal Family.

So, surely, the last person they need is a crisis manager?

Here is what I’ve been told about Ms Ravenscroft’s appointment – and I found it absolutely fascinating.

Her CV stresses that she has told companies ‘how to get past an issue as quickly as possible with minimum dents….It’s often front-page stuff: from boycott campaigns to sexual allegations to serious safety issues, geopolitical and ethical risks’.

However, everyone at Kensington Palace is desperately keen to emphasise that she has been hired for her general abilities as a communications expert and not just because of her experience at dealing with crises.

‘Liza is joining in a non-crisis role based in the KP press office, working on the day-to-day Press interaction Kensington Palace has,’ a source said. ‘People who work in communications for the Royal Household come from an array of backgrounds.’

However, William and Catherine know that there may be trouble ahead, and it’s likely to come from a familiar source – Prince Harry and Meghan.

The Establishment ‘plot’ to bring the Duke and Duchess of Sussex back to Britain is gathering pace, with a decision expected within the next couple of weeks on the reinstatement of the couple’s automatic armed police protection – paid for by British taxpayers – when they make return visits to this country.

Over the past few days we have seen gushing front-page stories in red-top newspapers from ‘sources close to the Sussexes’. One was about how Meghan could visit Britain this summer, bringing her children, Prince Archie, aged six, and Princess Lilibet, four, to see their grandfather, the King, for the first time in four years. Another was about Harry inviting his father to open the forthcoming Invictus Games, his event for injured and sick former soldiers, which is due to be held in Birmingham next summer.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the Invictus Games in Germany in 2023. It is said that Harry will invite his father to open the forthcoming games in Birmingham next summer

Both these stories, and other similar ones, serve to put pressure on the King and the rest of the Royal Family to roll out the red carpet for the Sussexes, even though the California-based couple have never apologised for their disgraceful attacks on their relations in television interviews, Harry’s tawdry memoirs and in their Netflix ‘docu-series’.

This PR offensive is all part of the Establishment ‘plot’ I have reported on over recent months which aims to restore the Sussexes to the affections of the British public. The plot is known as ‘Project Thaw’ because the aim is to ‘warm up’ the duke’s and duchess’s frosty relationships with the rest of the Royal Family and with the British people.

As I wrote last September: ‘Worryingly, King Charles has been drawn into this, aided by some key figures of the Establishment behind the scenes.’

These are disturbing developments for William and Catherine, who are carefully and quietly establishing themselves as King and Queen in waiting. Harry and Meghan returning to set up their ‘rival’ royal court at the same time as trying to make a fortune for themselves has the makings of a future crisis for the monarchy.

So, while Liza Ravenscroft’s new role at Kensington Palace may be a ‘non-crisis’ one for now, it might not be long before she needs all the skills she acquired while dealing with disasters in the corporate world.