Prince Harry is unlikely to come back to the UK this year – despite the Queen celebrating her 70th year on the throne – because he’ll find it hard to face his family ahead of his upcoming memoirs, a royal biographer has claimed.
Tom Bower, who is currently penning a biography of Meghan Markle, told Closer the Duke of Sussex, 37, faces the ‘ultimate dilemma’ this year, as he must decide whether to make the trip to visit his beloved Grandmother knowing that he’s being paid to bare his soul for the much-anticipated book.
Harry’s explosive £14.7million ($20million) memoir is due to be published in the autumn.
Bower says that Prince Harry, whose daughter Lilibet, born in June, is yet to meet the Queen in person, will find it hard to be ‘pleasant’ to his family ‘knowing what he’s written about them in that book’.
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Royal biographer Tom Bower said the Duke of Sussex, 37, who lives in California with his wife Meghan Markle, 40 and their two young children, will find it hard to ‘face’ his family and be ‘pleasant’ to them knowing what he has written about them in his upcoming memoirs (pictured with Meghan at the 53rd NAACP Image Awards Show)
Harry’s book, to be published by Random House, is likely to tackle the brothers’ frosty relationship with the Duchess of Cornwall, who was confirmed as the future Queen Consort in February.
Prince Harry is currently bringing a legal challenge against the Home Office after being told he would no longer be given the ‘same degree’ of personal protective security when visiting from the US, despite offering to pay for it himself.
The royal, who is living in Montecito, California, with Meghan Markle, 40, and their son Archie, two, and Lilibet, nine months, wants to bring his children to visit from across the Atlantic, but ‘does not feel safe’ when visiting under the current security arrangements, the court was previously told.
Bower claims the Duke of Sussex is using worries over his security as ‘an excuse’ and says he knows that it’s likely to be difficult to maintain friendly relations with the royal family following the release of the book.
The author said he does not believe Harry will come back this year, in spite of Prince Philip’s thanksgiving ceremony on April 29 and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in early June.
‘I think Harry won’t come back because he knows he cannot face his family, and be pleasant with them, knowing what he’s written about them in that book,’ Bower said.
‘That book will have a lot of casualties and cause a lot of hurt. It will really deliver, as Harry knows it has to, to justify the money he’s been paid to do it. How can Harry come back and pretend it’s all fine? The worst of what he will say is yet to come,’ he added.
The Duke of Sussex was meant to come to the UK for his grandmother’s Platinum Jubilee in June and a memorial service for his late grandfather in April, but an argument with the Metropolitan Police over his security detail has apparently put the trip in jeopardy (pictured with the Queen, 95, right and Meghan, left, in 2018)
The author added not coming back would be a clear show of where Harry’s loyalties lie, and that the Duke of Sussex could regret not introducing his daughter Lilibet to the Monarch before it’s too late.
He’s added that the Duke of Sussex has had plenty of opportunities already to come back to the UK, and the fact he and his family have not visited the Queen since settling in the US shows where Harry and Meghan’s mindsets are.
Harry has visited the UK twice on solo trips since moving to North America, once for the funeral of his grandfather the Duke of Edinburgh on April 17 and on July 1 to unveil a statue of his mother Princess Diana at Kensington Palace with Prince William, 39.
Tom also recently told the Sun that Meghan has no intention to coming back to the UK and ‘simply doesn’t care’ what the British public think.
Harry faces the ‘ultimate dilemma’ this year, as he must decide whether he wants to see his beloved grandmother or stay away ahead of his potentially explosive memoirs being released, Bower said
The commentator said the royal viewed the UK as a ‘lost cause.’
‘Meghan’s ultimate destination is unclear, but she certainly has the backing to make a bid to star as an American politician,’ he said.
‘In parallel, Britain is a lost cause for the Sussexes. In truth, I suspect Meghan no longer cares whether she is welcome in London. She has no intention of returning.’
He added that while her popularity has fallen in the UK since getting married, her three day visit to New York in September was a ‘remarkable success’ and she clearly enjoys support among ‘Democrats, minorities and the young.’
It’s the latest revelation released from the tell-all book and comes after he said Meghan was branded ‘that minx’ by the Duchess of Cornwall, who thought she was ‘a self-seeking troublemaker’.
Prince Harry’s account of life as a Windsor could shake the royal family to its core, friends have warned (pictured: Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and the Duchess of Cornwall with Harry and Meghan in 2019)
The royal biographer suggested the Duke and Duchess’ silence over the Queen’s declaration that Camilla would one day by Queen Consort was ‘Meghan’s way of declaring war.’
Prince Harry is believed to have ‘reached out to his father’ to have ‘friendly video calls’ ahead of the Queen’s Jubilee and is likely to return for celebrations this summer.
However, sources close to the matter have suggested that the royal no-holds barred book will lay bare his true feelings towards his step-mother Camilla and is likely to ‘shake the monarchy to its core’.
The Royal Family has been left deeply concerned by Harry’s decision to secretly collaborate with Pulitzer-winning ghostwriter JR Moehringer on what his publishers described as ‘the definitive account of the experiences, adventures, losses, and life lessons that have helped shape him’.
The Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William are said to have been completely blindsided by Harry’s shock announcement that he has been secretly working on his as yet untitled memoirs for more than a year now.
Meghan Markle may never come back to the UK as she ‘simply doesn’t care’ what the British public think, Bower has also claimed. (The couple are pictured at Global Citizen in New York in September 2021)
Royal experts had previously warned that the potentially explosive book could burn further bridges with the distant Duke and The Firm.
And sources close to the Duke of Sussex fired a warning shot on that is likely to send chills through the Royal Family as news of Harry’s potentially explosive memoirs reappeared.
His friends told the Mirror: ‘If they think he’s gone soft, they are mistaken. Just wait for the book to come out because that will shake the monarchy to the core.’
Friends of the Duke explained to the Mirror: ‘Although tensions have eased between the two of them over the years, it was more for a show of unity than a close relationship.
‘There were big problems at the start but as Harry and his brother William aged and matured, things got better and they can now co-exist as adults. They were never close with her and they still aren’t.’
It comes as The Mail on Sunday revealed Camilla would be crowned side-by-side with Charles in a slimmed-down Coronation celebration when the time comes.
The Prince of Wales has already let it be known that he favours a leaner monarchy and his Coronation service – whenever it comes – is expected to set the tone for his reign.
