The royals most and least likely to give Harry and Meghan a ‘warm welcome’ – as the Sussexes are set to bring their children to the UK for the first time in years

With the Duke and Duchess of Sussex set to visit the UK with their children next month, it will be the first time in years that Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, are going to be in the same country as some of their royal relatives.

The children, who will be joining their parents as they travel for the one-year countdown party for the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham, have not seen their grandfather King Charles in person since their last trip to Britain in June 2022 for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. 

But while some members of the Firm may be willing to welcome the pair with open arms, it’s likely others could avoid seeing the couple altogether, following years of rifts, some of which were spurned by Prince Harry’s tell-all memoir, Spare.

A royal expert has claimed that while there are those who will be ‘as constructive as the situation allows’ in a quest for better relations – others feel ‘totally betrayed’ by the couple.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, commentator Richard Fitzwilliams has shared the royals most likely to give their visitors across the pond a warm visit, and the ones who are more expected to steer clear.

Elsewhere, there are relatives who fall into an ‘in-between’ category, and could go either way, as they are known for both their loyalty to the Crown – but also their warm connections to Harry.

The Duchess has not made a prolonged trip to the UK since the late Queen’s funeral that September, apart from occasional stopovers in London for foreign tours.

Harry is said to be satisfied with security arrangements for the visit in mid-July and is now planning for his children to make the trip from California.

The Prince has seen his father just twice in two years, and is still thought to be waiting for a decision on what security provision he and his family are entitled to in Britain. Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the Sussexes’ planned trip.

One of the 41-year-old duke’s business associates based in Los Angeles claimed there had been a ‘warming of the frost’ between Harry and Charles in recent months.

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King Charles 

‘The King has been involved in arranging this visit, offering accommodation and reportedly ensuring the security requested by Harry is in place,’ Richard said.

‘He will put the emphasis on reconciliation and seeing his grandchildren, whom he has not seen for four years.

‘He won’t have forgotten the Sussexes’ transgressions though – and there is bound to be an agreement to no public disclosures after their meeting.’

The expert added that the King is also likely influenced by his health. 

‘He knows he is in his late 70s and is battling cancer,’ Richard added. ‘He will be aware that Harry will probably want him to be at the opening of the Invictus Games next year. He wants to be as constructive as the situation allows.’

Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank & Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi

While Harry is known to be close to his cousins – and always appears to enjoy friendly chats with their husbands – any meetings between the York sisters and the Sussexes will likely take place behind the scenes, Richard said. 

‘Eugenie was always the closest to the Sussexes, visiting them, appearing in their Netflix series and they both have houses in Portugal,’ he shared.

‘However, Harry and Meghan won’t want to be too close to the sisters as they are far too controversial because of their disgraced parents. The Sussexes will keep their distance publicly and they do excite worldwide interest.

‘They may of course see them privately but we may not hear of it.’

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Princess Anne

As the King’s sister, the Princess Royal is endlessly loyal to the Crown. But famously drama free and focused on her duties, she has largely stayed out of any ‘rift’ reports.

Richard explained: ‘Anne is a famously no-nonsense hard working royal. She was publicly supportive of the Sussexes’ decision to step down from royal duties.

‘However, she was reportedly suspicious of Meghan. Her loyalty is to the Crown which they have harmed. She doesn’t trust them either.’

Edward and Sophie, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh

Richard said that Edward and Sophie possibly feel quite a lot of sympathy for Harry and Meghan, as members who have in past explored careers outside the Firm.

However, as they are now very tightly in the royals’ inner circle, it is also possible they would wait and see about how dynamics with Charles unfold before doing anything with the Sussexes – at least publicly.

‘They initially wanted a not dissimilar arrangement with them having jobs as well as performing royal duties for themselves but it did not work out,’ Richard shared.

‘They have done very well as senior working royals. They appear to get on superficially with Harry and Meghan but there is no evidence they are close. They will watch how events unfold.’

Mike and Zara Tindall

Mike Tindall – husband of Anne’s daughter Zara – has been praised for his affectionate and friendly nature.

Earlier this month, he rushed towards ‘noticeably tense’ Beatrice and Eugenie at Peter Phillips’s wedding, to put them at ease, greeting them with smiles and hugs.

The former England rugby pro was the first to greet Beatrice, her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank as they walked up to the gates of the 11th-century church in Kemble.

Footage showed Mike, 47, warmly planting a kiss on Beatrice’s cheek before sharing a heartfelt embrace with Edo, as X users said ‘Mike is a hugger’.

In another sweet moment, Jack’s handshake with Mike also turned into a bear hug before Zara’s husband greeted a smiling Eugenie, who is pregnant with her third child.

Mike, Zara and Harry were once so close to Prince Harry that he was asked to be godfather to their second daughter, Lena.

However, their relationship has cooled since Megxit.

In 2022, when the nation celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, he was overheard referring to Harry with a one-word expletive.

Mike had allegedly called him a ‘b***end’ to a fellow guest at a Buckingham Palace party, and was reportedly critical of the way Harry had spoken to a member of staff.

Twenty-four hours earlier, Zara had acted as a ‘buffer’ between Prince Harry and Mike Tindall at an ‘awkward’ Thanksgiving service for the Queen.

Mike appeared to give the Sussexes the cold shoulder on the steps of the church, where Meghan and Harry were also booed by some in the crowd.

Tindall looked stone-faced and away from the royal couple as they exited St Paul’s Cathedral.

He didn’t join them in their conversation with his wife, Zara, before they left.

Richard added: ‘Harry is godfather to Lena their daughter. However their once close friendship with Harry has cooled after the rift, which they have avoided being involved with. They aren’t likely to go out of their way to see them.’

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Queen Camilla

It is not likely that Queen Camilla will be in a rush to meet with Harry – as in his 2023 memoir ‘Spare’ Harry claimed that he and William pleaded with their father to not marry her.

‘We support you, we said. We endorse Camilla, we said. Just please don’t marry her. Just be together, Pa,’ Harry wrote.

The conversation between the father and his sons reportedly came after William and Harry formally met Camilla at Highgrove in 1998, a year after their mother – Diana Princess of Wales – died in a Paris car crash.

After the meeting, Harry claimed that he and William promised Charles they would welcome Camilla into the family. All they asked of the then-Prince of Wales was to not marry Camilla.

Harry claimed this was because the marriage would ’cause controversy’. 

He said: ‘It would incite the press. It would make the whole country, the whole world, talk about Mummy, compare Mummy and Camilla, and nobody wanted that. Least of all Camilla.’

The King did not answer but Harry said Camilla did when she ‘began the long game, a campaign aimed at marriage and eventually the Crown’. 

Harry says that details from Camilla and William’s meetings were later leaked to the press – which he alleges came from her.

‘She won’t have forgotten Harry’s personal attacks on her,’ Richard shared. ‘She is down to earth, tough and practical and is all too aware of the problems the feud has caused to the King personally and to the monarchy.’

The Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate

According to Richard, there is little to no chance that the brothers will meet when Harry and Meghan visit – as William ‘feels totally betrayed’.

‘He wants nothing to do with them and does not trust them and nor does Catherine,’ he added.

Years on, William shows no signs of wanting to forgive his brother for the damaging claims he made in his memoir Spare and in a bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview in which he accused an unnamed royal of racism.

The siblings are believed not to have spoken since the late Queen’s funeral in 2022.

Tensions have been rife since, in Spare, Harry claimed William attacked him after branding Meghan ‘difficult’.

The Duke of Sussex also described a stand-up row that reportedly ended with the Prince of Wales grabbing him by the collar and throwing him to the floor, shattering a dog bowl with his back. William then allegedly declared: ‘I didn’t attack you, Harold.’

Harry recalled what he claimed was a physical attack by his sibling, which he said left him with visible injuries, including ‘scrapes and bruises’.

William was said to have branded Meghan ‘difficult’, ‘rude’ and ‘abrasive’ and insisted he was trying to help his younger brother during a meeting about ‘the whole rolling catastrophe’ of their failing relationship.

Harry accused his brother of ‘parroting the Press narrative’ about his American wife before a screaming match ensued, ending in a physical altercation, the book claimed. He said he gave the heir to the throne a glass of water and said: ‘Willy, I can’t speak to you when you’re like this.’

Elsewhere, speaking about the early years of his brother’s relationship with Kate, he referred to his fear that she would ‘take Willy away’. He also revealed that he had no idea his brother was engaged until it was announced publicly.

Meanwhile, Harry also shared his sadness at not being invited over for dinner with the Cambridges while living opposite them at Kensington Palace.

Kate started dating William in 2003, after meeting him at the University of St Andrews. Soon after, she met Harry.

After the wedding in 2011, Harry claimed William and Kate were granted more staff, more cars, a larger residence and a more imposing office.

While he said he ‘wasn’t bothered’ about the advantages, he said the ‘respect’ mattered to him.

He claimed he felt like an outsider and a ‘non-person’ because he was a bachelor. 

Elsewhere, Harry detailed telling Kate and William about excitement over Meghan and saying how it had been his ‘dream for a long time’ to become ‘a foursome’.

However, he claimed William told him ‘it may not happen’ and that he would ‘have to settle’. 

When the two did decide to marry, Harry claimed William told him on the eve of their wedding in 2018 that he was spending the evening with Kate and their children. 

The duke writes that it was a sensitive time, because it had been their ‘tradition’ and that William ‘cancelled at the last minute’. 

Peter and Harriet Phillips

Princess Anne’s son ‘got on with both William and Harry and walked between them at the Funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh’ – however, ‘Harry was reportedly not asked to his wedding to Harriet Sperling and he is reported not to have spoken to him for a long time’, Richard said.

Because of this, he’s unlikely to reach out for a meeting. 

While Harry is said to have ‘not spoken in years’ to Peter, sources say the presence of his estranged brother Prince William and his wife Kate at the Cotswolds event will inevitably have played a part.

But the Daily Mail earlier this month revealed that Harry’s strained relationship with Princess Anne’s son largely stems from an incident some 18 years ago.

The prince was furious following Peter’s first wedding to Canadian Autumn Kelly in 2008, after he struck a deal with Hello! magazine to sell the exclusive rights for an estimated £500,000 – without telling the family.

Harry was particularly annoyed because he had taken his then girlfriend Chelsy Davy as a guest and had decided that this was the moment he would introduce her to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, for the first time – a sign that their relationship was getting increasingly serious.

While the prince was aware that a photographer was present and snapping away – even posing for pictures with Chelsy and the then Kate Middleton – he thought they were for Peter and Autumn’s private collection.

He had no idea that they would end up splashed across 100 pages of the glossy celebrity magazine.

It also came at a time when he and his brother had been battling to preserve Chelsy and Kate’s anonymity, complaining that unofficial pictures of them were a violation of their privacy.

Harry was deeply nervous about the meeting with the Queen, admitting afterwards that while he was sure ‘granny would love her’, it was a huge step forwards in their four-year relationship.

Also present – alone – was Kate, who had agreed to attend while William was away in Africa at the wedding of another close friend. She was also meeting the Queen for the first time.

The two young women spent a great deal of time together during the course of the day, even hitting the dancefloor in the evening, where they were pictured throwing their arms in the air in delight.

Harry loudly complained later that the first he knew of the debacle was when a copy of Hello! was delivered a few days later to Highgrove, his father’s country home, and he saw it on the breakfast table.

Furiously, he tried to call Peter to have it out with him but his phone went straight to voicemail, he later said, as Peter had ‘buggered off on honeymoon’.

It is not known if the two ever had it out personally, but the deal sparked a massive public outcry about the ‘selling out’ of the royals.