Meghan Markle is said to be ‘encouraging Prince Harry to leave the past behind and move on’, according to a royal expert.
Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond has praised the Montecito-based Duchess of Sussex, 43, for urging her husband to look towards the future.
‘If Meghan is encouraging Harry to leave the past behind and move on, then I think it is a healthy move. They have made their decision, left the working royal family and left the UK,’ the royal expert told OK! magazine.
She continued: ‘Brooding on the perceived injustices of the past and re-living old quarrels is a waste of a life, and I think Meghan sees that.’
The couple moved to California back in 2020 with their son Prince Archie, as they stepped back as working royals. Princess Lilibet was born a year later in 2021.
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on August 17, 2024, during their tour of Colombia
Top moments from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Colombian tour
‘This is what Meghan and Harry have always wanted – to create their own life,’ a royal insider told PEOPLE at the time. ‘It’s got to feel like an immense relief to get out of the UK and go down their own path.’
However, in his tell-all memoir, Prince Harry hinted that he misses some of his old family life, as Bond explained.
She said: ‘In his book Spare he writes about his fond memories of some of those family gatherings, and it’s only natural that he now misses that connection and perhaps is still considering ways of repairing the damage done in recent years.’
But the royal expert suggested that Meghan likely believes that their time within the Royal Family is now ‘firmly’ in the past.
Harry’s friends in the UK have also spoken out about the Duke’s reported dissatisfaction, saying things haven’t turned out ‘how he wanted’.
According to The Times, one of Harry’s ‘oldest friends’ who gets ‘the odd WhatsApp from him’, said: ‘He’s an angry boy. Things haven’t turned out how he wanted. I think he misses being over here [in Britain] desperately and wants to be admired more.’
In their six-part Netflix series in December 2022, Harry said of his and Meghan’s move to California, ‘We are exactly where we’re supposed to be.’ But then the Duke added: ‘I miss the UK.’
With Harry’s hints at a desire to rebuild relationships with family back in the UK, could there be a reconciliation on the cards?
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Prince Harry pictured with Prince William, Kate, his father, King Charles, Queen Camilla and the late Queen Elizabeth II in June 2012 in London
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Kate (far left) Princess Charlotte, (left) Prince George, (right) Prince Harry, (centre) Prince William (far right) stand on the balcony during the Trooping the Colour in 2016
After the news of King Charles’ cancer diagnosis earlier this year, Harry quickly returned to the UK to be by his father’s side, though their meeting was reported to last less than 45 minutes.
‘The fact that I was able to get on a plane and go to see him, and spend any time with him, I’m grateful for that,’ he said on ABC’s Good Morning America a few days after the visit. ‘Any illness, any sickness, brings families together.’
But it may be a long road to reconciliation ahead of Harry, with the Duke’s previous revelations in his memoir and during his Netflix show causing potentially irreversible damage.
A source close to Charles explained to The Times: ‘The problem for the King and other members of the family is the worry that if they have a chat with Harry, it will appear in volume two.
‘How do you regain the trust? I don’t think Harry ever can. But from the conversations I’ve had with the King, I would never say their relationship is irreparable. The King’s capacity to forgive his son is undimmed.’
