What’s really behind Harry and Meghan’s shock move back to the UK?

0:07The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will touch down in the UK in just a matter of days. But what is the real reason behind their shock return to Britain? We speak to former Royal Protection Officer Dai Davies about Harry and Meghan's extraordinary decision and what it means for their hefty security bill. Things haven't felt like they've worked out. In some senses they have. They're happy. They've got their children. Meghan's got her business. jam, fruit spread. He's doing his work with veterans. But there's a real sense from Harry in particular that he's coming full circle.

0:46Yesterday on the Daily Tea, we broke the astonishing news that Harry and Meghan are coming back to the UK. Here is how the rest of the world responded to our exclusive. Tonight, a royal bombshell nobody saw coming. The Telegraph newspaper reporting that six years after they stepped down as working royals, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are moving back to the UK along with their two children. News of a major move tonight for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Yeah Jane, this is not the news any of us were expecting today. Royal news for you this evening. This is news coming out of London. Here we go.

1:24Just in some royal news, ABC News has confirmed that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are moving back to the UK. And what do Telegraph readers think about it? Well, trawling through the nearly 10 ,000 comments that we have received so far, the mood runs from very, very negative to mildly happy. Matthew Southworth says, Good on them. The children are a prince and princess of the realm. They belong in Britain. at mariem1 says i can't imagine the betrayal that prince william and princess catherine must be feeling the british public must feel outraged and at dom triss says the uk is in dire straits the last thing we care about is the ultra rich swanning off to the u.s just to come back just to be put up by the taxpayer and anonymous hello mr or mrs anonymous says i've been a monarchist all my adult life, but if they rehabilitate Prince Harry, I'll become an instant Republican.

2:25Well, let's just remind ourselves of what Harry once said about the possibility of life in the UK. I can't see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point. And the things that they're going to miss is, well, everything. You know, I love my country. I always have done. despite what some people in that country have done. So, you know, I miss the UK. I miss parts of the UK. Of course I do. And I think that it's really quite sad that I won't be able to show, you know, my children my homeland. I'm now joined by Poppy Coburn, filling in for Camilla Tominy, who is with her son getting his GCSE results.

3:10And he's done well. He's done very well. Well done, Harry. We're very proud. And also by Hannah Furness, Telegraph's royal editor. Nice to see you. Hannah, hearing Harry say that about the UK, putting it in such stark, almost existential terms, I don't think I could exist here. What's changed? Well, it's been a huge turnaround, hasn't it? It's not just what he's been saying on record, which has largely been about the press and security. It's what we've been hearing behind the scenes. So it wasn't that long ago that sources in his camp were saying he's never been happier, he's learning to surf, he loves his life.

3:43There was this idea that they never looked backwards at all. there was nothing in Britain that they missed. And now very recently, we've started to get this very different feel from their camp about how Harry thinks about Britain. He loves Britain. He wants to come back to Britain. It's always been his home. This is a massive step, isn't it? From the point of saying he loves Britain to actually moving back to Britain. We don't really understand how that's going to play out yet, how that's going to fit in with the royal family. But the whole world is going to have an opinion on it. I think what you've just said about very recently is interesting because as far as I can tell, it's quite difficult to move you and your family across the world, particularly if you are a person as famous as Harry.

4:26So we found out about this, you know, he's enrolled his children into a British school. Now, the king was told about it on Sunday, but I don't think any of us believe that he made that decision on Sunday. This has obviously been a long time in the works. I kind of just want to hear more about this timeline, because obviously Prince Harry's had this horrific court case where he is lost on every single front. He's been completely humiliated by the media when he wanted to have a kind of triumphal return to the country. Why is he still coming? Because, you know, this is humiliating for him coming back here.

4:57It's not like he's got a victory that he can come and say, I've been vindicated about the British tabloids. He's kind of coming back with his tail between his legs, is he not? Yeah, that's a good way of putting it. There was a time when we thought, you know, they're going to have this rival court in California. They're going to test the royal family at every stage of their lives. They're going to be the popular, glamorous, sexy ones going off having fun. And the royal family would look quite staid in comparison, getting on with duty. That's not the basis on which they're coming back. They're not coming back, like you say, as triumphant heroes.

5:26This is sort of the prodigal son returning, where things haven't felt like they've worked out. In some senses, they have. They're happy. They've got their children, and Meghan's got her business, jam, fruit spread. He's doing his work with veterans. But there's a real sense from Harry in particular that he's coming full circle. So his causes are coming full circle. He could be doing exactly what he was doing before they left the royal family. It's veterans. He wants to do charity work. It's kind of claiming the memory of Diana around the anniversary. Nothing about Harry now, in terms of his public-facing stuff, is particularly different to how it was before he left the royal family.

6:02But he's obviously reached some sort of emotional, mental conclusion that maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought but you can't just go back on this stuff I mean what I don't understand about Harry is that um from everything he said since he had that break with the royal family indeed everything he said in his book spare he comes across as someone who's quite prideful you know he's standing up for his pride he's standing up for the reputation of his wife who was so horribly treated apparently by the royal family and the evil British press there is nothing in this return back home that makes sense to me um the timing of it doesn't really make any sense again he hasn't got any positive news to come back to the country um the framing of it that he's just going to get on with the work that he was doing anyway well then why not stay in america what has actually pushed him to make this decision like when are we going to find that out just to add some context to that remember uh that megan had said that before she um moved to the uk she had been warned by friends that british tabloids will destroy your life and the duke more recently said that the tabloids had made his wife's life an absolute misery.

7:04It was a bit of a flounce when they left, wasn't it? There was nothing good to be said about Britain or the royal family for quite a long time after they left. As I say, there must have been some sort of process that he's gone through where he's reconciled these different elements of his life. His father is unwell. We know that Harry is an emotional person. He loves his family. He's always had difficulty with this father-son relationship. He wants his father to protect him. They seem to have quite a good relationship now. Certainly two young children will help that. So for Harry coming home, it's not such a surprise that he would want to.

7:37Now, I speak advisedly because there may be things that come out further down the line that answer this question in a bit more of a concrete form. There may be financial things, there may be visa things, there may be things that haven't been part of this conversation so far. There was this idea that the politics of America weren't really suiting them now and they'd have to come home. Nothing about it makes perfect sense, as you say, I agree with you. I think we will probably find out a little bit more about the practical reasons, but in terms of the emotional family reasons, Harry clearly wants to come home.

8:07Meghan has agreed to it. The extent to which they will be here full time, the capacity she will have to live in a country that she felt was quite unwelcoming to her, we're about to find out. I'm guessing here that in this country, you don't just enroll your child in what I'm sure will be one of the best private schools a few weeks before term. Correct. And they are coming here in a couple of weeks time. They must have been thinking about this months ago. Yes. And anybody who has children their age will know that you don't just land the day before you put your young children in a new school and expect them to acclimatize.

8:43They're getting their body clocks. They're settling into a new village. Everything about this, keeping the family life secure and keeping their children happy and putting their well-being at the front of it, they must be settling them in much earlier than two weeks' time. So we're finding this out really on the cusp of where they're going to have to think about being here in order to make it work. In which case, calling on Sunday to tell the king, do we believe that? Well, I perfectly well believe that that's when the king was told. And this is informed by Prince Harry's view that everything he tells the palace is going to leak.

9:17So when they were working on the Sandringham Summit, you'll remember from the memoir, that he really, really objected to putting his plans in writing because he felt that as soon as he submitted that to his father or his grandmother, as it was at the time, it would go to the office, it would find its way out somewhere and immediately the tabloid press would be made aware of it. This is sort of his dream, that he's managed to do all of this in private and then sort of let it be known on his own terms. But Hannah, this kind of then goes against the idea that he's doing this because he cares about his father.

9:45I mean, that is not a long amount of time to prepare your elderly father for your return to the United Kingdom. Yes. When the fact of you leaving was the biggest scandal the royal family has had in decades. In normal people terms, this is like ringing your mother on Christmas Eve to say, I'm coming home for Christmas. Have you got some extra turkey? Yeah, I'm coming home for Christmas. Oh, right. Well, where are you? I'm outside the house. I've said it before and I'll say it again that you cannot apply normal family rules to the royal family. They work in mysterious ways. I would be very surprised if Charles and his team had not been aware that there was something in the works.

10:22It was only a month ago that they were meeting here at Highgrove for a low-key private tea. The idea that this wouldn't be discussed at all is extraordinary. There was something else about the family aspect of this story. It's not just the king who's involved with this, it's also the prince and princess of Wales. There's been no reconciliation between the two brothers, and frankly, there's been no reconciliation between the Princess of Wales and Meghan. How are they going to feel about this? I've written it today. Anybody who presumes to know what Prince William actually thinks at this stage is a bit of a fool.

10:54He's a pragmatic man. He cared about his brother deeply. One of their final conversations was William saying to Harry, I want you to be happy. I love you and I want you to be happy. The idea that their stereotypical personalities are going to apply for the rest of their lives, they're never going to speak again, I would be very wary of saying that now. William and Catherine was very, very hurt by the allegations in Spare and in Oprah. You'll remember everything that was said about the Princess of Wales, the amount of vitriol that she had in her direction after these allegations of who said what about Prince Archie.

11:33it was a very very difficult time followed by serious illness prince william has had to put the blinkers on and concentrate on his nuclear family in order to do his job and carry on you know he serves britain effectively he's going to be the king he has to do more than be emotional about his brother i think in time if the sussexes stay in britain we will see a level of pragmatism from the king first and foremost, and then William when the time comes. But in the moment, finding out that they're moving back to Britain, the stage that they're at, which as far as we know, there's no direct line of communication at all.

12:10It must be painful. And I think a lot of the public will have a lot of sympathy for Prince William here. A quick question, because you mentioned Prince Archie. They negotiated that the kids keep the titles, right? It wasn't so much a negotiation. It's just the law that once your grandfather is the king, you can be prince and princess. So when they were the great-grandchildren of the late queen, they didn't have the titles. When the king became king, they could then have the titles. Okay. What does that entitle them to? I mean, nothing necessarily. It's a title. It's prestige. It's great branding.

12:43If you're living in America, where the royal family is recognized as prince and princesses, logistically, it doesn't really change anything for them. They're still in the same position of the line of succession. Harry believes that having the titles gives them greater credibility for getting security. What about them later becoming working royals? Nothing is impossible. I think it seemed impossible when they were living in California. The idea that they can come back, have a greater understanding of what life in Britain is like and how their family works. Perhaps they will see through their parents now, if they're working for patronages they will begin to instill this kind of royal idea of duty and service as it applies here rather than service is universal which is what the Sussexes always say perhaps there's a world in which a future King George is going to call on a cousin it's very difficult to imagine but it's not impossible I'm building up to uh the Windsors have a problem with a shrinking number of working royals right so I'm just wondering if part of this is about Harry for seeing a future in which he has a practical role to play within the family because they need every every body they can get and part of the the problem between william and harry is this idea that harry has kind of abandoned his duty he's thrown william to the wolves and more importantly he's thrown william's children into roles that they wouldn't necessarily have had to take or we wouldn't be talking about them in this way so when harry was here he would be filling the gaps of the working royals for another generation.

14:18He's still interesting. He's always said he's only interesting till George becomes an adult, which is true in the natural royal cycle. But the fact that he left has put so much more pressure on the Wales children and the Wales nuclear family, that you're quite right that there is a line of thinking, which is that this could lift some of the pressure. That's again going to be another pretty major change for the Sussexes. I mean, Megan has made such a big deal out of not showing her children's faces. I cannot imagine if they've got the royal titles of prince and princess and they are actually living in the United Kingdom.

14:52Are they just going to keep that up until they're 18 years old? Are they going to be walking around with baseball caps on all the time? There is going to be some involvement with the children in public life. The privacy line isn't going to wash anymore, right? Well, the Wales model has been very, very successful. We've talked about this before, haven't we, of the idea of controlling the images of your children giving a certain amount of access and being completely firm of no private pictures we would never publish a photograph of the wales children going to the shops for example harry living overseas has meant that he could do it on his own terms here still nobody is going to be intruding on their private lives with the the press is very very considerate now we're very well behaved compared to when harry was growing up i don't think there's any sense where a British newspaper or outlet is going to be publishing intrusive photos or trying to take photos of them.

15:46The problem is that you still have paparazzi here who are supplying European magazines and American publications that might bother them. And I do think they're going to have to think very carefully about whether they follow the Wales model, which has been so successful, but will be painful to Harry because he didn't want that for his children. Are the children the key to a reconciliation between the parents? Because Imagine they're going to move in the same social circles. Not that many princes and princesses out there in the world. They will have something in common. Is that the way that the brothers start to reconciliate?

16:17Well, there's a world where you've got, I don't know whether I've done my maths here right, but Archie, the year below Louis at Eton at some point in the future. It's very likely that these children will come across each other if the Sussexes remain in Britain. It adds a whole new element, doesn't it, to the family estrangement or reunion, that the children will be moving very likely in the same social circles, not least at school. I think the public would love mostly to see a new generation of children getting along. You can sort of see, can't you, the Sussex children in those photos we always see with the Tindals and the Phillipses at the polo, just having a nice time playing with each other, rolling down the hills.

16:56You can imagine seeing them in that kind of world. I think putting children in the position of a nation watching them and are you going to help the royal family reconcile is very uncomfortable to me and i think possibly we should just leave them and see what happens it's harder to do that sort of thing under the spotlight isn't it than privately but they are under the spotlight and ladbrooks has already put two to one on that harry and megan will become working royals by the end of 2027 and say it's evens that harry and megan and william and kate will be pictured together in 2026 a spokesman for ladbrooks said talk of harry moving back to the UK has got Royal Watchers dreaming of a full-blown family reunion.

17:36Punters reckon the next chapter could see the Sussexes back in the royal fold and they're also backing a headline-grabbing reunion photo sooner rather than later. Well, we've talked a lot about half in, half out by stealth, haven't we? There's been this idea, especially on the Australian tour in the spring, that they could somehow appear as if they're working royals, doing patronages and engagements and so on, while building businesses and doing commercial work. This This is sort of less half in, half out by stealthers, by bulldozer, isn't it? You're moving back. It's inevitable that they're going to have photographs with the royal family.

18:11If they're going to have a meaningful life here, you know, they're going to have to accept the invitation to Balmoral. Probably they'll be at Sandringham for Christmas. There are going to be photos of the Sussexes with the king, and that puts them back at the heart of the royal family, in the minds of the public who don't necessarily follow the nuance of working, non-working in out and just see a visual picture of harry looking happy next to the king and then what's going to happen with their businesses on the side is this the end of brand sussex because i can't imagine megan's going to be able to do master chef australia if she's actually living in the united kingdom you know where what happens to their commercial you know Speaking of which, I went on the As Ever website and I found that you can buy the cozy duo, signature scents to warm the home.

19:00And you can buy this pair of candles and a box of matches, which will make your home smell like Harry and Meghan's. How much is this, Tim? Tears, sweat, drama. When's your birthday? Two candles and a box of matches,$128. Wow. That is money for old rope, isn't it? You're not going to want to give that up just so you can do some working royal engagements. I've got some old candles in a cupboard from when the lights go out. If I can combine those with a box of matches, I can offer the smell of Tim Stanley's house. Smell like the Daily Tea studio. The smell of dog, mostly. But it's a good question, isn't it?

19:36To what extent does she risk in some way watering down her own brand, which is a very global, cosmopolitan... Well, it's been built on being a California girl recently, hasn't it? That's been at the heart of it. I'm a California girl. She'll say, oh, she said a MasterChef, I think. Fresh ingredients, the outside barefoot, picking flowers in the garden. Yes. Good luck doing that in rainy British weather. I love the website. You have to. Everyone has to run this website because it's film of Megan picking berries and she's dressed as if she's going to dinner. But she's picking berries. And of course, she doesn't just as we all pick berries, you know, trying not to prick your fingers with horrible red covered hands.

20:14just sort of delicately picking it. It's Montecito. And sniffing it. We're checking in the autumn. Putting it in her little oven basket. We're going to see her in like Kentish town doing the same thing with like some slightly manchie blackberries, putting them in a jam. British blackberries. You can't do this with the berries on the side of the A1. Absolutely not. A dog's probably done its business on them, so it's not a good idea. But one thing we have to bear in mind, we did mention this yesterday, is her own family is a very complicated story. She fell out with her father. But King Charles walked her down the aisle.

20:53You know, we're assuming she's got something to lose here, but she's also got a family to gain. I mean, that's part of a reconciliation story, isn't it? And that's what they said very early on. Harry said in an interview that the royal family was the family Meghan never had, and we were all quite puzzled about it at the time because all of the Thomas Marcus stuff hadn't really come to light. yes that is true i think there is a slight danger and i think our readers are quite mindful of this of selective amnesia of forgetting everything that's happened in the last six years not just on a personal level but on a royal family level you know the fifth in line to the throne heavily criticizing the commonwealth isn't just a personal family issue that's a that's an issue for the monarchy that's an issue for destabilization of the globe to get slightly carried away but there's a lot that has happened what have the children been told about why they don't live in britain and why they don't know their cousins and their uncle and aunt there's a lot to puzzle out here and we would all love it to be straightforward the story arc is moving towards reconciliation there's it's a lot more complicated than that behind the scenes if they had just gone away and then come back that would be simple but they went away and they wrote a book and they did interviews and they made a tv series and for instance harry has described queen camilla as the villain in his parents marriage who needed to rehabilitate her image because uh whose need to rehabilitate her image has made her dangerous because of her connections with the british press he's essentially accusing her of being a leaker and a gossip right it's these sorts of things that we're now being asked to forget and that they're very very personal and very hurtful.

22:36You know, the idea for William that Harry is telling stories about their personal rows in a memoir, as you compare it to a normal family, normal siblings, that's very difficult to get over, let alone with the public pressure. There seems to be a lot of pressure on William now, and you've sort of got to feel sorry for him, of, well, Harry's back, it's your job to forgive him. Well, let's not forget, for everything that Harry has said about his wife, William will have the exact same view for the Princess of Wales, who was also incredibly hurt by Harry's big media tour. I mean, we're not just asking Harry to move on and come back into the country.

23:07We're saying that of the future king. Well, that's exactly the kind of thing that Telegraph readers are asking. And on top of that, they're also saying, how much is this going to cost me? And how will the security work? What will it look like? How much of it is he going to get?

23:28we're now joined by di davies who is the former head of the royal protection command di just tell us what was your initial reaction when you heard the news well i was uh contacted late last night asking if i would go on a program at midnight i declined i was shocked um i was really shocked and so amazed after all that's gone on for the last six years, but particularly the court cases and all the rest of it. And his recent statements saying that he couldn't trust this country or allow his wife and children to be safe here. It's quite extraordinary, the 100 % U-turn, and one has to ask what on earth is going on.

24:09We want to talk to you about the security implications. And of course, we're not being intrusive here. This is a public, this is a question of public interest, right? Because if nothing else, we may end up having to pay for it. So what do you think this will mean for Harry's protection if he comes to the UK? Well, quite clearly, once again, the matter will be reviewed by the structure that's in place already to look at royal and VIP protection. This is a small group for men, or mostly men as far as I know, and they will decide on the intelligence and information what the risk assessment is. But clearly, I think something has been going on for some time.

24:53I think some elements of, you know, looking into the whole structure from homes to schools and all the rest of it, it beggars belief that the palace didn't know anything. And it's indicative, perhaps of the way, if that's true, these two carry on. It's just unbelievable that this hasn't been pre-planned, pre-structured, pre-organised in order that security can be looked at sensibly and succinctly, in my view. It's not like they're just quietly slinking back into the country. I mean, if you're Prince Harry, you can't quietly go anywhere. And I imagine that will have some kind of bearing on the level of security they're going to need.

25:39They are the highest level of fame now in this country since they left. Well, indeed. And indeed, sadly, as you may or may not know, there are over a thousand fixated persons in this country. About 20 % allegedly pose a threat. And I can't believe, given the polls that I've been looking at this morning and being made aware about 85 % of people allegedly polled don't want them here. So there could be all manner of threats that would now have to be looked at as a consequence of this action. And again, I don't know we've had confirmation from any reliable source. I appreciate it's your paper that broke the newspaper and good for you in that sense.

26:23But a lot of questions need to be asked and there need to be sensible questions. As you rightly say, security for these two now has to be looked at very carefully as a consequence of their own actions in coming here with their children. I want to be careful how we discuss this because it's a sensitive matter. But when a royal child goes to school, what does that mean for the school in terms of security? Well, my obviously experience goes back to when William and Harry were at their respective schools, Eton, as I seem to recall. And again, the officers looking after them, the teams that look after them obviously carry out a full surveillance.

27:07Today, many years on, that surveillance will be far more sophisticated. But you have to carry out preparation. You have to look at what the risk assessment in that area would be. You have to look at the potential threats either to the school and or the royal children. It's a complex scenario, which I won't go into detail, but suffice to say, it has to be looked at with the knowledge of history and the knowledge of the threat and the methodology of threat today. It is an issue which will require a great deal of structure, finance, I would suggest, in terms of alarms, in terms of cameras and other technical issues, which, again, I won't go into.

27:54I suppose the nature of the threat that they're facing is going to change in a quite major way. I mean, you're going from living in a gated community in Montecito, where they do have security that they are paying for, to a country that you haven't lived in for some time, where suddenly your profile is raised. In America, they're celebrities, but in the United Kingdom, they are the royals. They are suddenly much higher status again. Where is this actually going to come down in terms of practical cost? Because the decision is going to be, as you rightly said, Tim, who pays for it? If the cost of this security is suddenly doubling overnight, is that really going to be something that Harry is going to be happy to accept in the next year, 10 years, however long he's here?

28:34Well, you're quite right. It's questions, you know, how long is a piece of string, really? In my professional opinion, I would be looking at where the location is, what kind of premises they're going to live in, what are the capabilities in terms of the local police if alarms are raised. the technical support that would have to go into a home is huge it can't be done overnight and so there are so many questions frankly which which we don't understand because we don't understand the full structure of the return and where they living etc etc all manner of things come to mind it's almost I could spend an hour talking about what I would now be doing if I was in charge of their security.

29:24Is it possible that the king's own security could cover them? Is that a solution? Well, only if he lived, you know, at Highgrove or any of the other numerous premises that the king owns in this country. I mean, but I don't see that happening because, well, who knows what's going to happen? This is a scenario we haven't been in since Edward VIII and his abdication when the then king refused to allow him to come back to live permanently in the country as a consequence of his marriage to Mrs. Simpson. So here we have an American divorcee coming back again to a scenario where a great deal of people allegedly in this country don't particularly want them back.

30:06They're coming with very little notice because apparently the children are going to school in two weeks. So it's going to be a rush job, whatever happens. and again it's an extraordinary decision after the who-ha we've had in recent years. I'm wondering how the security services will be feeling about it too. I mean of course they just do their duty and they protect whoever it is they've got to protect but when someone's walked away from the country like this and said so many negative things about it and negative things about the royal institution how do you think some people who might be on their detail would feel about Harry and Meghan when they come back?

30:46Well, again, one has to take in the fact that they are professional. If indeed you and I now are faced with paying for their security, I mean, clearly with the Invictus Games and others where he was known to be coming, the local police and the police in that area would have provided a higher level of security, complementing the private security. So this is going to raise all manner of different issues I again fearful that it'll come back to you and I now paying for this and it's going to cost many millions. And with great respect to them, I don't understand the motive, but perhaps it'll become clearer.

31:27And what I don't like is this dripping news to their favoured kind of newspapers and or I'm not suggesting that in your case. But again, with some of the media outlets, they have their favourites and it's dripped right. instead of having a clear structure where the nation is told this is going to happen because and we would like to do this because we're all drip feeding all of this which in my professional opinion as a security advisor is nonsensical that's a very good point for people who've built their career around communication it is surprising that we haven't yet had a video or a tv interview in which they have set us up for this on the contrary they've gone from harry being in court, losing a libel case, to suddenly a few weeks later, it leaking that he's coming back.

32:15Well, quite. And again, the visit to his father was leaked, as it were. We don't know what details went on. But it says something also about either the palace or the failure of the palace to actually get a grip of this yet again. We had the debacle, was he going to stay at Buckingham Palace? Wasn't going to stay. It seems to me that whoever's advising them professionally needs to go and rethink their structure and their professionalism, because this is nonsensical, in my humble opinion. Guy Davies, thank you very much. My pleasure. Well, tomorrow I'm off on holiday, long, long last, but Camilla will pick up the subject with the royal biographer, Andrew Lowney.

33:04Thank you.