As Prince Harry prepares to visit the UK in May for the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, time will tell whether his wife, Meghan Markle, will accompany him.
The Duchess of Sussex has not stepped foot in her husband’s home country since Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in 2022. But according to a source close to the couple, the Prince has appealed to his wife to accompany him on his trip next month.
Given recent family rifts and tensions combined with the cancer diagnoses of both Princess Catherine and King Charles, speculation is rife whether the estranged prince’s visit will include an attempt to mend fences and rebuild the bonds he once enjoyed with his family.
The source reportedly said he doesn’t “want to do this alone” and that Harry has told Meghan he wants to avoid solo trips to the UK in the future.
“He [Harry] would prefer it if the entire family made regular visits to see his family and build bridges, but there is so much going on behind the scenes that it just isn’t possible at the moment,” the source said.
“Both Harry and Meghan were planning to come to the UK, but when the exact time and date of their appearance [at the Invictus ceremony] were made public, she started to rethink that idea,” the source stated.
Speaking to New Magazine, the insider reportedly said that Meghan is no longer comfortable taking her family to the UK due to decreased security privileges after the couple stepped back from their royal duties in 2020.
They said, “It’s now got to the point where Meghan doesn’t want to come to the UK with the children. She just doesn’t feel safe.
“The situation is now about whether the family should attend with increased security or Harry should go it alone.”
The speculation comes after Prince Harry made a brief trip to the UK in February to visit King Charles after he was diagnosed with cancer.
A royal expert at the time expressed his hopes that the outcome of the visit would be a positive one.
“Sometimes benefits can come from difficult times and situations we would never wish on anyone,” he told the Daily Mail.
“Let us hope that from this meeting, at a very difficult time for the royal family with the Princess of Wales recovering from an abdominal surgery, a positive future, which would obviously include Meghan, emerges.”
However, to date, it remains to be seen whether the Duchess of Sussex will relent and join her husband as he attempts to repair the relationship he shared with his father, brother and other members of the royal family.