The Royals with Roya and Kate - Can Harry and Meghan really be 'private' royals in the UK?

Episode Date: September 2, 2026

Harry and Meghan have returned to Britain with Archie and Lilibet, but their new life remains remarkably undefined. How long will they stay, what will they do here — and can two of the world’s most recognisable royals truly live as private citizens?Back together after the summer break, Roya Nikkhah and Kate Mansey discuss Meghan’s possible acting comeback, the narrative changing on Harry’s security, and palace fears of a rival royal court. They also look at the public response, the appetite for reconciliation with Prince William and what success might look like for the Sussexes in Britain.If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to press follow at the top of your podcast app.Harry and Meghan are back in Britain. What do you want to know? Get in touch: [e-mail]: GettyProducer: Robert WallaceVideo Producer: Eve ChadbournExecutive Producer: Priyanka DeladiaWatch us on YouTube.Read more: Prince Harry and Meghan's return could be short-lived Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to the Royals, the podcast where we discuss what happens behind palace walls and why it matters. I'm Royne Nika. And I'm Kate Mancy. Well, we're back. And so are Harry and Megan. After six years in California, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, touched down in Britain last week for what's being called an extended stay. While Archie and Lilibert are starting school, the family are settling into their new private home and headlines surrounding their return have hardly paused. But beneath all the noise lies a much bigger question.

The palace is emphatic. This is not a return to royal duties. And there will be no half in, half out approach. So as the dust settles from the bombshell, what does being a private royal actually look like? So Kate, we're back and the others have followed suits. They couldn't keep away. Well, there's a relaxing summer break for us all, wasn't it?

Not interrupted at all by any news. No news at all. Just as we predicted. The Royal Beat never stops. Two weeks ago, as you and I were trying to attempt a holiday, boom, bang. We got a bombshell announcement that they're back. Harry and Megan back on our shores. Yes.

What do we know? Well, we were told they were coming back, went there? And then last week, we know they landed in Birmingham in a private jet with their children, Archie and Lillibet. They're living in. at home. They don't want to disclose it. There's been no kind of public on the record statement. Their PR man who seems to have been allowing everyone to know that they're back. Don't think he's had a holiday. Hasn't had much for a holiday.

Not from the WhatsApp group. And he's, you know, there's no on the record comment, but, you know, they're saying, we're not discussing with a living, anything like that. But they did let it be known, didn't they while we're away that they're coming back for what's seen to be an extended period. Now we know that the children have been enrolled in school. They're starting this September. They've got digs here, private digs. They're not going to be staying in a royal residence, but they are back.

Already there's some sort of debate about how much we're going to see them publicly. There have been notes that have been sent out to the press saying, please respect their privacy. We've heard that before. We have. And how much briefing will come out of their camp and how much public. they're going to want around their public role here. Reentry.

Reentry. It'll be interesting. I mean, it's royal but non-royal. Well, the whole announcement and the briefing that came around it from both Harry and Megan's team and the palace was completely fascinating. And what we heard from Camp Sussex was, yes, they were coming back, not guiding away from that, not specifying where they're staying. Since then, it has been widely reported that they have moved to the Cotswolds.

It hasn't been a strong push away from that. But the fascinating thing was what came from Buckingham Palace, I thought, which was the sort of guidance that this had not been discussed by Harry and Megan with the King and Queen at that meeting in High Grove just recently. As recently as July. As July. It seems extraordinary that Harry didn't raise that prospect of moving back to the UK with his father when they saw them at that reunion after four years. That was extraordinary. One of the things I think the palace was kind of forced to react to in terms of issuing guidance about their return was this idea that they can't be half in and half out. And we can go on and talk about that in a bit because it's fascinating how that will work or won't work.

But that came apart the fact that there are these briefings that Harry and Megan feel like they've proved that they can have that sort of half in half out. So in some ways the palace was again forced to react to news. We've been here before, haven't we, where Sussex is saying. one thing. The palace is seeking to then have their say set out their side of it. We did hear from the palace that the king wanted it to be known that he was delighted on a personal level to be able to see Harry and Megan this word kept coming privately more, welcoming them as sort of private citizens and delighted to spend more time with him and the family and the grandchildren. So that is going to be lovely for the king,

particularly if they've landed in the Cotswolds where the king spends a lot of his weekends at Highgrove. but there was this constant reminder from the palace that there will be no return to royal duties. Well, also the news broke, didn't it, while William and Catherine were up at Balmoral with the king and queen. Oh, to be a fly on the tartaned wall. Was that a coincidence?

You know, I was told by sources that the king's professional interest, the thing he's putting first, will be William, will be his son and heir, will be the family firm. But like you say, at the same time, he's delighted at his younger sons back in the country because it will give him chance to see more of him

and meet the grandchildren. We did a whole episode on this recently with Hillary Rose and Catherine Mera. We looked at how will that work? How can you, you know, it's complicated for the king because Harry being physically back in the UK with his family means inevitably the king is going to see an awful lot more of Harry.

We know that's not going to sit easily with William just because of the way things have pan out, between the brothers, which is still permafrost, and no sign of that changing, despite polls saying the public want them to reconcile. So it does put much more pressure, I think, on both relationships, and it's going to put the king in much more of a bind with the sons. It's one thing to have your son and grandchildren living in California and seeing them so two or three times a year. It's another thing to have them popping over for the weekend all the time and saying you're going to prioritize your heir, which is going to be complicated for the king, I think.

Well, you looked at this, didn't you, in the Sunday Times, in terms of the return, how much of a return is it, in fact? Because, you know, there's been a big fanfare, Harry and Megna coming back, the children are enrolled in school here. We know Harry's got some really big high profile events coming up. Birmingham, 2027. Diana's 30th anniversary next year is going to be a huge moment, I think, for both princes, both William and Harry. However, there is a question mark, isn't there, about how permanent this will be? So what do you know about that. Well, what was really interesting was when we spoke to people close to them, friends, people in their camp, just before they moved over, there was definitely a sort of mood music of they don't

even know how long this move will last. There's definitely a kind of feeling that they don't want to mess up the kids' education. It's a huge thing to move two young children from America, that young prince, princess, they've got American accents, their childhood friends are American, going into kind of the British prep school system. That's quite a big thing. So I don't think that's something that Harry and Megan would take lightly and sort of play with and uproot them. But that said, it was made very clear to us that they're not sure how long they're going to stay here. They have kept the house in Portugal. They have kept massive great house in Montecito. So it's keeping options open. And I suspect much will depend on how they settle in here, how Megan settles in here.

Because as you and I have talked about a lot before, Harry has made no brains about the fact. The UK says home, he loves it. He's wanted to be here a lot more. It's homeland. He always refers to it. his homeland. Megan's got a much more complicated relationship with the UK and the UK has a much more complicated relationship with Megan and that plays out in not just the coverage her, but it plays out in how she fares in polls here, her popularity rating. And I've always thought, I never really thought she had a great desire to rekindle her relationship with the UK and the royal family here. That's going to be a challenge, don't you think? Yeah, absolutely. Because we don't know,

it hasn't been tested, has it? Last time she was here in July, we expected Megan to be at Harry's side. for some of those public engagements. It turned out she wasn't. We didn't see her? He'd just had that bad news, hadn't he, about losing the case that he'd fought for a long time against associated newspapers. Now there are ongoing discussions

as we've discussed on the podcast before about how much they're going to owe in terms of court costs. So we didn't see her then. We didn't see her. It's not been tested. She hasn't tested the waters here for a long time. She doesn't know how popular she is here with the public. It's unclear to me.

how popular she is with the rest of the royal family or indeed how popular Harry is with the rest of his family. It feels like you say, keeping options open because it shows a bit of a lack of confidence, don't you think? Well, I... In their move. Yeah. It's a big thing to uproot children

and you wouldn't want to put them into school for less than one semester, really. I mean, I think that would be a huge upheaval. What has been sort of made clear about certainly in terms of what she will do here is because we know, as you mentioned, Harry's got those things. And we're going to see him, possibly her as well at the World Child Awards,

just very, very soon later this month. What has been made clear from her camp and also from, I think, a few tantalising social media posts we've had from her in the last few days, is that she will continue with her as ever brand of like homeware, lifestyle products. So it sounds like possibly there's going to be a UK launch of products here. And that may well keep her very occupied. You know, we're told that she's going to keep running the brand mostly from America. But you can't help but think, will she test the water and try and,

sell the products here. Surely she will. I mean, they're trademarked, aren't they here? She did that quite a few years ago. So she obviously sees Britain as a market like she did in Australia when she went to Australia on that. She sees Australia as a market. She's got big ambitions, hasn't she, for that brand.

That's not going anywhere. There were reports at the weekend that she was going to be at Harry's side for a Diana Awards event that's coming up soon. Now, I went to the Sussexes and said, what do you make of these reports? Is it correct that we're going to expect to see? Harry and Megan at this event together and they said absolutely not. They're not going, are they? I mean, in terms of beer, it's clever, isn't it?

Because everybody's expecting to see her. She knows very well the value of a public appearance. And she'll be choosing it very carefully, I expect. Do you think the fact that we've had confirmation from the Sussex team that they're not going to be at the Diana Award event? Do you think that suggests they are thinking much more carefully about coming back and not being seen to sort of dominate the headlines too much or not really? I think if they wanted to come back and not dominate the headlines too much,

they have failed because they have dominated the headlines. They could have done that more quietly. And they could have just come back in September, landed, put a statement out on the record because we all heard Harry railing against sources here and there and everywhere. If they'd just come out and said something on the record, look, we're back, we're doing this. and then the palace would have been able to respond on the record perhaps. But what we're now, we're back in that old story, aren't we, Roy, of briefings and counter-briefings, because it's all sources.

It's nobody saying anything on the record. And we're back in the circle that they say they don't like. Coming up, how would that work and what would that look like? If Megan, the Duchess of Sussex, senior member of the royal family, reappears on our screens in a very risky, I think it'd be fantastic. Actually, do. One of the most intriguing headlines

that there were some classic tabloid front page headlines was the suggestion, this story that accompanied the return that Megan is going back to acting. And not just back to acting, but that she is in talks with Guy Ritchie for a potential role in his big blockbuster drama, The Gentleman, which let's just remind ourselves of the plot there, A spare to an air

turns drug dealer has this sort of massive mistake comes back and tries to find his way and it's tongue and cheek and it's brilliantly done but it is quite risque there's a lot of violence I haven't seen it actually is it a good show

it's very good there's a lot of violence there's quite a lot of sex it's not safe territory for member of the royal family and let's not forget she is still a senior member of the royal family she might not be a working role

when it comes to official duties but she may well be a working role on screen And this Netflix. She's married to the fifth in line to the throne. It's Netflix. We know they've got a relationship with Netflix. So this came out to this news. Everyone was like, what?

She's going back to acting. Because of course she was in suits. That's how, you know, she came to everyone's attention. How would that work and what would that look like? If Megan, the Duchess of Sussex, senior member of the Royal Family, reappears on our screens in a very risky drama. I think it'd be fantastic. Actually, I think that's what she should do.

I think, you know, obviously she likes acting. I think she should do it. This is what they wanted. They wanted to have freedom to do what they wanted to do. And I think she'd be much better off doing something like that than actually doing a kind of pseudo-royal role, doing all these kind of pseudo-royal foreign tours

and helping charities and things like that. Do you not think there's any friction between retaining a title, being a Duchess and being a sort of Hollywood star on screens and a gun-toting trauma? I don't know the answer to that. Gun-toting drama. What? It is. Well, look, I think they've changed the royal family forever with what they've done. And I think people would perhaps have more respect if they just did what they wanted to do.

Megan's all about being authentically herself, isn't she? Well, and also how true are these reports? No one's actually said anything. It's never been confirmed. Guy Ritchie hasn't confirmed it. I expect he's enjoying the publicity for his show because people talking about it again. And he does have big cameos, doesn't he? He's known for flying. in helicoptersing in big names into his shows. And he's no fool. I think he would love the publicity for this. Whether we'll see her on screen or not, I don't know. And it may be this is part of them testing the water. Yeah.

That was a suggestion, wasn't it, that it might have been leaked to whip up PR around possibly more acting roles for her. For her, for the show. They'll maybe both see it as a publicity win. We know that Sunshine Sacks have been advising the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their big, you know, big, American PR company who then returned. Yeah. Yeah, back in the States, the big kind of Hollywood makers and shakers, and they're still helping Harry and Megan find their feet and find their new public roles.

So I think it will be interesting. Frankly, I think it would be good for her to return to acting and do something like that rather than trying to gagging on that, you know, on the royal bee, if you like. Yeah. I wonder how that would land with the royal family, though. I wonder what the king and queen would make of that. I bet the queen would watch. The Queen would certainly make it her business to watch. I just wonder whether it's a matter of interpretation,

but at that Sandringham Summit where Harry and Meghan presented a half-in-half-out scenario that was absolutely thrown out by the King, by Queen Elizabeth and by William, would being in a drama like that uphold the values of her late majesty? I don't know. I think there's a big question mark over that in Royal Circles. It's how much they want to be in and out. And I think at the moment they would love still to have that half in, half. out.

You know, we've seen the briefings. They believe it can be done and that there could be a way in which to do it. The only way that would ever, ever be remotely possible would be if Harry's father, the king decrees that that's okay. It will never happen under a King William, let's say. So if that is true and if that is perhaps on their mind, I don't think Megan would want to appear in a kind of gun-toting drama, really, if there was a chance to do the royal stuff. Yeah, but the publicity, you know, they're casting the net wide, I think.

They're going to see what lands here. They're going to see how feasible it is to have a long-term career, long-term life within the UK. And they obviously see themselves as international, you know, people of mystery, don't they, flitting between one place or another. Huge amounts of coverage, no photographs of them here yet. Yes. So that was interesting.

The plane landed, private jet, landed at Birmingham Airport, and all we saw were pictures of the plane. And their security convoy. No police security. Let's talk about security. Three cars, which presumably accompanied them and took them from Birmingham Airport to their new home, possibly in the Cotswolds, we think. The security issue is front and centre of their return, because as things stand, they are now on UK soil for extended stay with their children and they have no armed police protection at the moment. And I've been fascinated by the briefing around it.

there has been a very strong briefing to all the papers, to all the broadcasters. It's one thing to live in America and come back intermittently and do engagements here and there for your charities and not have the protection, which is what the Home Office have said each time he comes back, it's been assessed on a case-by-case basis and he gets what he needs. It's an entirely different scenario now they're back permanently. Is that going to move the dial? Will the Home Office be forced to reinstate their protection? No, I don't think they'll be forced to reinstate their protection because ultimately, whether they're here for a month, whether they're here for six months or three years,

doesn't stop the risk changing, I suppose. What Harry had successfully done was he's managed to get the home office to agree to what's called an RMB, a risk management board, which would reassess his risk. And then he would then use that potentially to say, well, look, my risk is very high. You need to give me armed state police security. Now that was granted. there was a hold up with the whole system, not least because they've had lots of former prime ministers that they have to provide lifelong armed security to. So the home office is under a bit of pressure there.

We know that process stalled. But it may be that they now have to reassess that risk perhaps and relook at how he's living where he's living based on his current arrangement in the UK. So maybe that's another question. It always struck me slightly as a strange battle to have with Harry when. So much security is provided by the UK taxpayer to other VIPs from different countries that a lot of it we don't know about because for security reasons, they can't tell us who we're providing security to when they come here. But, you know, he remains, like I say, a member of the royal family. He's still fifth in line to the throne. He's still the king's son. And yet a UGov poll last week found that a majority of Britons don't think the public should fund their security.

No, they don't. But that's not going to have any effect, you would assume, on what the government. do or don't decide to do. But it is an interesting fact to tie into their return because some people might welcome their return. Other people might roll their eyes and go this again. But, you know, UGov polling, which is pretty, you know, reliable, shows that most people don't think now that they've left official duties that we should be funding their security. That's a weird thing about the return as well, isn't it? He always said, I'd love to come back to the UK. I'd love to spend more time here. I just can't. It's not safe for me, my wife,

my children to come back. And yet here he is. He proved in July that they could go and visit the King without being photographed. They can land at Birmingham Airport and go and live a private life without being photographed, without being followed. So maybe you would think that the home office was right. But, you know, that's something he's going to continue to. He's definitely still campaigning on it, isn't he?

Oh, yeah. He's never going to give that up. But I think one question in my mind, which I'm struggling to answer, is why has he come back? It's a really interesting question. I mean, there's no doubt. And actually his team have said and friends have said, there's no doubt that even though they didn't discuss it with the King and Queen in July that meeting. The meeting at High Grove was, I think, very formative for Harry in terms of not just being back at his childhood home with his own children. And all the memories of that and the sort of thinking about what they were.

missing out on what they can now see. But, you know, people close to him talked about how happy he was after that meeting with the King. And I think we're now told that they were thinking about schools as early as in the summer here. But I think you've got to assume that that meeting having gone very well, and clearly they're having been very well received and having a very nice time with the King and Queen with their kids must have been possibly a factor that sort of, you know, tip the balance. And Harry just thought, my father is still having cancer treatment. Long live the king, but he is still having cancer treatment two and a half years after diagnosis. Of course, Harry wants to make the most of his time spending time with the king. He wants his children to know

their grandfather. You can't do that over in America. It's really hard. I mean, is that the answer to why? That's a nice way of looking at it, isn't it? I suppose a more cynical view might be to say after that meeting, which did seem to go well, the palace put out a very nice note, didn't they, and said that the king and queen were pleased to have hosted Harry and Meghan and Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet using their titles, which actually only really mean a great deal here. They're just other celebrities over in the US. Maybe it's a chance for them to reinforce their status here in the UK while the King's still alive. Somewhere in between those two reasons could be why they're here.

Admittedly, he wanted to come back. He always has wanted to come back. Maybe it's a nice chance for him to sit here and get the security as well. I agree with you. Someone in the Royal Orbit said to me exactly. that last week, which was Prince Archie and Princess Lillibat, it's all fine and well in California. But it doesn't really mean much in California if you carry on doing that in California, living your California in life. If you're in the King's orbit, if those two young children

are in the King, they are around his majesty of the King, they know their grandfather, they are part of his family life. That kind of carries a lot more sway and a lot more weight going down the line. Currentcy here. Well, that person said to me, you know, Harry and Megan are future of proofing Archie and Lillibet's futures by bringing them back here, reintegrating them into the Royal Orbit with the King. They are. I mean, an optimist around the outsides of the paliscer to me, it could be that they want to just spend more time with the King and get Archie and Lillibet to know a bit more about their

father, their family, their British side of their life. And maybe there won't be so much speculation every time, you know, the Harry and Megan circus comes to town because they'll just be here. And it'll become normal and it'll be fine. And I thought, I think that's misguided because actually it's going to be constant, isn't it? Will Harry be going to Christmas? Will he be seeing the king at this event, that event? And the constant question around the brothers.

Because, you know, that we've heard nothing from William and Catherine's camp on this other than they want to sort of rise above it and just, you know, keep calm and carrying on and unwavering commitment to duty and all of that. How is that going to play out? it's all very fine and well for Bucking Pallas to say there's no half in and half out they're not going to be working royals the reality is they are going to be working royals the members of the royal family and they're going to be working and they're going to be here

and that's going to be I think a real challenge for all members of the royal family because when William and Catherine go out on engagements they get a lot of attention when Harry and Megan potentially go out and do their own engagements they are going to get an awful lot of attention and that is going to cause friction I suppose a sort of final thought

is they're back. We don't really know why. We've kind of mused around some potential ideas as to why personal, professional, future proofing, constitutional, all of that. They may stay, they may leave. The extended period, maybe six months a year, two years longer, who knows. Success for this return, what does that look like? Does that look like them being mostly private royals and just building and nesting this sort of family life with the kids and the cots while setting them at school? or does it look like doing all of that, ticking that off and then boom, reentering royal life here, building on the Sussex brand in the UK, getting out there, doing engagements? Option B, I think. I agree.

Harry isn't here to be a sheep farmer and learn how to make dry stone walls in the countryside. Private citizen doesn't really suit them either, does it? It's not what they're about. He's got Invictus to bang the drum. He's right here now. He can do that. He flew into Birmingham, could have flown into any other airport. He's here to stay, I think, to make.

make his point to make his mark. He's had a complete drubbing in court recently and he's here to perhaps, you know, build on the brand, the Harry that people used to know and love, you know, the veteran build on all those things that have the foundations of their brand that actually make them likable. And the return, I would suggest, kind of implies that maybe the Californian dream wasn't quite what they thought it would be.

And I think they both probably realise the Royal Brand is, stronger here long term than it is in America. Well, there's lots to keep discussing. I don't think we're going to be short of content for the next few months, Kate. Well, stay tuned because, you know, we'll keep talking about this. But unfortunately for this week, that's all we've got time for. We'll definitely be keeping a close eye on this story. So don't forget to follow us wherever you get your podcast or on YouTube at the Times' Royals channel.

And what would you like to know about Harry and Megan's move back? please email us your thoughts and questions at the Royals at the times.co.com. And we might include them in a future episode. Next week, we'll be back as Prince George begins life at Eton and we'll be asking whether any school can prepare a future king. So don't forget to subscribe and you won't miss anything. But until then, thanks for joining us on The Royals. We'll see you next week.