Since returning to the UK, it has not been plain sailing for Harry and Meghan.
Tensions over security and high-profile legal troubles have been balanced by the Invictus Games and a successful pseudo-royal visit in Nottingham.
They are also now dealing with the grim fallout from disturbing allegations made against Meghan’s father, Thomas senior.
However, earlier this week, perhaps significantly for the Palace, Harry issued a new plea to repair relations with his family, saying: “Some people don’t want it to work out. I want it to.”
The i Paper has been told the couple are now prepared to apologise for aspects of the royal fallout, to try to mend relations with the Palace – but that doesn’t mean an apology is forthcoming.
And even if it were – the levels of distrust within the Palace are such that it is far from certain it would be enough to guarantee a rapprochement.
Although Harry has spoken publicly about his hopes for reconciliation with his family, he and Meghan want any reunion, and the details of how it is achieved, to be done privately.
A previous report that they were ready to apologise for the racism allegations they made in the notorious Oprah interview were derided as “nonsense” by sources close to the couple.
Nevertheless, The i Paper has been told the couple are willing to explore some form of a personal apology, but it is unclear what exactly they would be willing to issue a mea culpa for.
A source close to the couple said: “If they need to apologise, they will, but that will be a discussion that happens in private.”
The condition of any apology needing to remain private will raise eyebrows in the Palace, where the couple’s willingness to openly air family grievances have proven so damaging to relations.
The source added that any apology could span some of the allegations made by the couple against the Royal Family in the Oprah interview, Harry’s memoir Spare, and their Netflix series about their decision to quit official duties.
A new olive branch
At the moment, Harry’s hopes of building bridges with his brother still look to be slim, although Kensington Palace officials have declined to confirm claims that Prince William has ruled out ever reuniting with Harry, who this week offered a new olive branch to his family.
Striking a conciliatory tone, in the wake of media criticism that they are taking attention away from the King’s official duties, Harry and Meghan have vowed to avoid undertaking any public appearances while Charles is away on a nine-day royal tour of the Caribbean from next week.
They will do the same when William, accompanied possibly by Kate, is in Mumbai for the Earthshot Prize awards ceremony in mid-November.
Their pledge comes after their first joint public charity visits since their return, during a trip to Nottingham, clashed with and overshadowed the King and Queen undertaking the constitutional duty of opening the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd, in Cardiff.
Harry again stole headlines from his father when an interview, in which he spoke about his hopes of reconciliation, was published by GQ magazine on the day the King and other senior royals were hosting a state visit by the Sultan of Oman at Windsor.
A spokesman for the Sussexes insisted they had no control over the release of the interview and that, although it was known publicly much earlier, they had only noticed that the Nottingham trip clashed with the King and Queen in Cardiff 48 hours before.
But they have taken the decision to try to keep a low profile, doing things privately while the King, Queen, and William are abroad, out of respect for them and also for the royal press pack, most of whom will be away covering the tours.
Their office and the Palace exchange information about forthcoming plans but it is often not detailed enough to prevent diary clashes. A source close to the Sussexes suggested they would be happy to work around the King’s schedule to a greater extent if they had full access to his diary, but acknowledged that might be more than the Palace wanted to share.
Royals ‘cautious’ about reunion efforts
The scenes in Nottingham caused consternation because Harry and Meghan’s visits to three charities essentially looked little different to official royal engagements, and risked undermining those activities by taking attention away.
Buckingham Palace, like Kensington Palace, is treading a difficult line. Publicly, the Royal Household is not currently discussing the Sussexes. Privately, there is eye-rolling at the constant drama, but staff also acknowledge that it is natural for the press and public to compare and contrast now that Harry and Meghan are back in Britain.
To that end, William made his first-ever talk show appearance as a surprise guest on The Graham Norton Show on Friday night. He was there to discuss his Earthshot prize and environmental ambitions.
However, he follows in his brother’s footsteps, with Harry having appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in the US last year. It also comes amid palace concern – according to some royal insiders and commentators – over the growth of a rival Sussex court.
One senior figure familiar with Palace thinking over the past few years said the household had to be cautious, neutral, and wait to see how genuine the Sussexes were about wanting reconciliation and how that would affect the institution.
“There’s a reason that the parable of the prodigal son is the most popular story in the Bible,” the source said. “Many people will want to see them reconcile. But I think the public are also quite good at seeing through people.
“I’d think you’d want to give it quite a bit of time. They could be gone again next year. I think people will want to see that they are here for the long term.”
The source added: “At the end of the day there’s a US-based commercial operation behind this couple. The public are always going to be asking why are they out on this visit? Is there a book coming or a film? It’s why I think the late Queen was right that you can’t be half in and half out.”
‘Regular’ conversations with the King
Harry and Meghan are understood to be happy to be back in the UK. “Most of his patronages are here and he used to have to join meetings on video. It’s really great that now he can do it all face-to-face,” the source close to the couple said.
They have enjoyed catching up with relatives they have not seen much of in the past few years and are said to be speaking to the King “regularly”. But they have not seen him in person since they returned to Britain at the end of August after living in the United States for six years, setting up home in the Cotswolds and enrolling their children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, at an independent school.
“Everybody is busy. The King is busy being the King,” the source said, adding that Charles and Camilla had spent much of the time since then in Scotland – making a family reunion more difficult – but that they were expected to meet again soon. “The King doesn’t tend to come to you. You go to the King but they’ve got the children at school – normally one of them is doing the school run – which has made travelling difficult,” he said.
As The i Paper revealed in September, they will not be spending Christmas at Sandringham with the Charles and the rest of the family. “Would they have been invited? I don’t know but the truth is that they had already decided that they’d spend it with Doria (Meghan’s mother),” the source said.
“She’s been used to seeing the children every week, sometimes daily. I don’t know yet whether they’ll be in the UK or US with others. I don’t think they know yet.”
Sussexes want to leave ‘anger and resentment’ in the past
Journalists covering the couple, while still cynical about their motives, have noticed a change in their attitude in public.
Both were all smiles in Nottingham, and Harry, who regularly glowered at royal reporters six or seven years ago, has been keen to say hello and help make his charity appearances work for the media. “Of course, they are different people. They’ve been away from the institution for six years, the kids have grown up a bit, they’ve lived in a different place,” the source said.
“You can live life with anger and resentment… But actually sometimes it’s just better to let it rest and move on.”
The couple are now dealing with many of the same journalists they refused to work with six years ago after Harry had complained about “this specific press pack”. They have even set up a pool system for journalists that in many ways mirrors the royal rota that covers the family members representing the institution.