It’s Team Sussex vs Team Wales: The arrival of Harry and Meghan will see England’s smart set divide into two royal courts… and this is exactly which side everyone from Princess Eugenie to the Beckhams will pick

TEAM SUSSEX

It has been six years since the Sussexes swapped Frogmore Cottage in Windsor for a self-imposed exile in Montecito.

In that time, Prince Harry has inevitably grown apart from his old Etonian chums and one-time Army Air Corps comrades.

But the prodigal son and his actress wife soon replaced them with a dazzling array of stateside celebrities including billionaire film-maker Tyler Perry, dashing polo star Nacho Figueras and, of course, the celebrated TV presenter Oprah Winfrey. But which friends and supporters have the couple retained on this side of the pond?

In a bid to reassemble Team Sussex, it seems likely that they will first gravitate towards Harry’s old friend Arthur Landon. 

Landon, 45, a former child actor, was once described as the wealthiest young man in Britain with a fortune of £200million. He is the son of a brigadier in the British Army – who went on to make a small fortune as the right-hand man of the ruler of oil-rich Oman – and an Austro-Hungarian princess.

Landon Jr’s upbringing on the £30million Faccombe estate on the Hampshire-Berkshire border was anything but conventional. His father, who died in 2007 at the age of 64, is said to have travelled everywhere in two Range Rovers with blacked-out windows escorted by motorcycle outriders and kept a private jet at the nearby Farnborough airport.

Though Landon went to the Catholic boarding school Ampleforth rather than Eton, he and Harry have known each other since they were schoolboys as their families moved in the same circles. And it was Landon who laid on a stag-do for Harry at the Jack Russell Inn, a pub on the Faccombe estate.

He is perfectly positioned to provide Harry and Meghan with the opportunity to soft launch their return to English high society by inviting them to the annual ‘village fete’ he hosts at Faccombe.

The party, slated for August 31, is always a glitzy affair, attracting the likes of film-maker Guy Ritchie – the man who was last week reported to have offered Meghan a route back into acting by casting her in his Netflix action comedy series The Gentlemen – and another of Harry’s old friends singer James Blunt.

Indeed, Landon was one of the producers of James Blunt: One Brit Wonder, a 2023 documentary about the singer who made his name with You’re Beautiful.

The Sussexes have stayed with Blunt at his Ibiza villa in recent years and no doubt will want to stay close to the hugely popular artist as they seek to rehabilitate their public image.

Another friend with a large estate who might provide the Sussexes with a country bolthole is the hereditary landowner Nicholas Johnston, who owns the 4,000-acre Great Tew Estate in the Cotswolds.

There the Old Etonian Johnston, 54, hosts the annual Cornbury Festival, nicknamed ‘Poshstock’ for its popularity among the ‘Chipping Norton set’, including former prime minister David Cameron and his wife, Samantha. 

Then there is Mark ‘Marko’ Dyer, a former Welsh Guards Officer and equerry to the then Prince Charles, who became a ‘second father’ to the royal Princes upon their mother’s death.

After leaving the Royal Household, Dyer sold the chain of pubs he created with a business partner in 2017 and went on to acquire the Brook House pub and restaurant in Fulham, south-west London, and is believed to live in the area, too.

He is conveniently married to an American, Amanda, who has already extended an olive branch to Meghan, assuring her that the British quirks and customs she so notoriously loathes – including the practice of splitting up couples at dinner parties so they are forced to speak to people other than their partner – can be overcome.

Then there are the friends whom the couple made godparents to their children and who will surely be welcoming the Sussexes back into the British fold.

They include Archie’s godfather, the former Army officer Charlie van Straubenzee, and Harry’s former nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke (now Pettifer). 

Archie’s godmother Tiggy lives in the Brecon Beacons with a fly-fishing fanatic of a husband who may just convince Harry to pick up a rod once again after Meghan allegedly put a stop to some of his country pursuits over animal cruelty concerns.

Then there are family connections. It is safe to assume that the couple won’t be popping to William and Kate’s for supper, or having tea with Uncle Andrew at Marsh Farm on the Sandringham Estate.

But Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack remain close to the Sussexes, and the two couples have both bought holiday homes at the exclusive Costa Terra Golf and Ocean Club in Melides, south of Lisbon, in Portugal. 

Known as the ‘European Hamptons’, after the stretch of ‘old money’ seaside villages on Long Island, properties in this 722-acre community cost well into seven figures.

Harry also remains close to his maternal aunts, Lady Jane Fellowes and Lady Sarah McCorquodale. Despite expressing reservations over Meghan, they came round once they got married and have supported the couple ever since.

But not everyone is back on speakers and we should spare a thought for the people who will not be on the Sussexes’ Christmas card list later this year.

British financier Ben Goldsmith is an old friend of Harry’s, while his sister Jemima was a close ally of Diana’s. However, last year Goldsmith took to social media to announce: ‘Tragic, but true – Prince Harry’s behaviour is unforgivable.’ This was a reference to Harry’s tirade against his family in a BBC interview after losing a legal battle over his demand for police protection in the UK.

Tom ‘Skippy’ Inskip was the man behind Harry’s raucous Las Vegas trip in 2012 and the fellow Old Etonian is known to bring out Harry’s boyish sense of humour. But they clashed after Tom’s wife Lara fell out with Meghan over a petty squabble.

The final nail in the coffin came when Tom was not invited to Harry’s wedding reception. He was furious to find that the likes of George Clooney got an invitation, even though – as the actor later admitted – he did not know the couple personally.

Perhaps the saddest truth of all is that many of Prince Harry’s childhood friends are also close to Prince William and, with the brothers’ feud still very much alive, many may conclude that it’s in their best interests to side with the Heir rather than the Spare.

TEAM WALES

An invitation to dinner at the Prince and Princess of Wales’ Georgian mansion, Forest Lodge, in the grounds of Windsor Great Park, is a sure sign that the recipient is a highly valued member of William and Kate’s inner circle.

But those in the know will tell you that it’s a seat in the directors’ box at Aston Villa to join William watching his favourite football team that shows you’re a true friend of the heir to the throne.

No one is spotted with him at Villa Park more often than Thomas van Straubenzee, widely considered the Prince’s ‘best friend’ and a godfather to Princess Charlotte.

The two men, who met at their Berkshire prep school, Ludgrove, even travel together to European away games – jaunts the Prince values as a way of letting off steam.

While Prince Harry was officially best man at William’s wedding, he admitted in his best-selling memoir, Spare, that Thomas van Straubenzee was the ‘real best man’.

Despite the ongoing feud between William and his younger brother, it was Thomas that Harry jetted off to LA with in 2016, only to end up at a party at the home of Friends star Courteney Cox taking magic mushrooms. The two men remain in contact.

Van Straubenzee, who can trace his family history back to a 17th century Prussian brewer, is head of Knight Frank’s Global Private Office, which advises ultra-high-net-worth individuals on their property portfolios. It would be no surprise if it emerged that Harry had sought his counsel ahead of his return to the UK.

Indeed, it is perhaps a sign of the trust in which he is held by William that Thomas is one of the few remaining bridges between the warring royal brothers.

Another of William’s closest friends is the Old Etonian James Meade, whose father Richard was a triple Olympic gold-medal equestrian rumoured to have once been very close indeed to Princess Anne.

James – who is also a godfather of Princess Charlotte – supported William and Kate’s relationship from its early days, even consoling Catherine when she and William split up briefly in the spring of 2007.

In recent years, James’s wife, Lady Laura – the daughter of the Earl of Romney – has formed a close bond with Catherine and was named godmother to the royal couple’s youngest son, Louis.

The Meades live near the Waleses’ summer retreat, Anmer Hall in Norfolk, and are members of the so-called ‘Turnip Toffs’, a group of green-fingered landed gentry in the east of England that also includes Kate’s great friend and tennis partner Sophie Snuggs, godmother to Princess Charlotte.

Perhaps Kate’s closest friend, however, is Emilia Jardine-Paterson. The girls met, aged 13, at Marlborough College and Emilia was named godmother to Prince George as well as being trusted with fabric choices for Anmer Hall, a singular honour in royal circles.

Of course, no assessment of Team Wales is complete without the inclusion of the wider Middleton family who have been staunch supporters of Kate and William since their 2011 wedding.

Kate’s mother Carole is known for taking on baby-sitting duties while the royal couple get some well-deserved time to themselves.

And then there’s the man who knows how to bring out William’s more raucous side better than anyone else, nightclub impresario Guy Pelly. It was he who organised William’s stag-do in 2011 and lives up to his nickname the ‘court jester’. 

He was, nevertheless, considered sufficiently trustworthy to be named a godfather to Prince Louis.

Every royal court needs allies, as well as friends. And the Waleses have forged relationships with some of the most powerful people in the land. 

One key confidant is Nicholas Coleridge, the former glossy magazine publisher who was appointed Provost of Eton College in 2024, where Prince George will begin his studies in September.

Coleridge is also patron of the King’s Trust, courtesy of a connection to the Royal Family that dates back to his friendship with William’s mother, Diana.

In his autobiography, The Glossy Years, Nicholas recalled lunching with Diana, who was upset after topless pictures of her were published in a newspaper.

She even revealed that William had called her from Eton to say he’d been teased by schoolmates who considered her breasts ‘too small’. Coleridge turned ‘red as a guardsman’s tunic’ before offering the immortal response: ‘Seem perfect to me.’

Another ally – who also happens to be a godfather to Prince George – is one of Britain’s richest men, Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster. 

Hugh ascended to the Dukedom aged 25 and took control of the family’s £9billion London property empire. In 2024, he married Olivia Henson who, like Kate, studied at Marlborough College and was a contemporary of Princess Eugenie’s.

The fact that Hugh has been spotted at Villa Park with William would suggest he is a member of the inner sanctum.

Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, 65, is another godfather to Prince George and a long-time confidant of the House of Windsor, having served as a private secretary to both Princes from 2005 to 2013. 

The Old Etonian and former SAS officer, who was an equerry to the Queen Mother in the 1980s and later served in the Gulf war, has since planted his flag firmly in the Waleses camp, once declaring of Prince William: ‘I’ve got huge faith in him and his wife. He is clear-sighted; his moral compass is rusted due north’.

Of course, no contemporary royal court is complete without its celebrity roster which – in the case of William and Kate – includes football royalty Sir David Beckham.

Beckham and William worked together on the bid to host the London 2012 Olympic Games but have since become friends.

The Waleses also count eight-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer as a family friend.

The tennis legend’s four children enjoyed a playdate at Kensington Palace, though it’s unclear whether they’ve been to Anmer Hall, where the Waleses have installed a £60,000 astroturf tennis court. Of one thing we can be certain, Harry and Meghan will not be invited over for mixed doubles any time soon.