The bombshell news about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s return to the UK came to light last night.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are returning to the UK (Image: Getty)
Lucy Powell said she hopes that Harry and Meghan’s move back to Britain will be “part of a bigger reconciliation” for the Royal Family. The Education Secretary said it will be “great to have Harry and Meghan and their family back here”. She hinted the Royal duo were attracted to Britain’s “great schools”.
The Education Secretary told LBC: “I think that the vast majority of your listeners will welcome that news and – they obviously are not working royals anymore – and want to come back to this country. I assume because we do have great schools, great education, that’s why many people do return to this country and choose this country to bring up their children in.”
Ms Powell said: “And I hope that this is all part of a bigger reconciliation for the family because you know the royal family is very important to this country and to our reputation around the world, and you know I for one think it’s great to have Harry and Meghan and their family back here.”
The couple will return to the UK later this month – making their home in a non-royal residence outside of London – and have already enrolled Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet in British schools.
It is understood there will be no change to Harry and Meghan’s role and status as private individuals and non-working members of the royal family.
The King, who is still living with cancer, was first made aware of the move on Sunday, only three days before it was made public, but is understood to welcome the opportunity to see more of the family both in a private and personal capacity.
But their status will remain the same, with the couple not being offered a “half-in-half-out” option when it comes to their roles.
The Sussexes’ decision raises the question of how the news will be met by the Prince and Princess of Wales.
William – a future king – is estranged from his brother after Harry levelled a barrage of accusations against the prince, Kate, the King and Queen Camilla in the years since the Megxit crisis of 2020.
Former BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt suggested the surprise return is likely to have left William “apoplectic”.
But Ailsa Anderson, who worked for the late Queen from 2001 to 2013, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “They do have two young children, they will be enrolling in school. You can’t flip-flop every two minutes and take them out of school and go back to the United States and then come back to the UK, so I can see that it’s going to be longer than an extended period.”
Ms Anderson also added that the “extraordinary surprise” for Harry to return may have been inspired by his visit to his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales’s ancestral home Althorp earlier this summer.
She said: “We know there’s been an ongoing issue with security. He has said until this is rectified he won’t be coming back to the United Kingdom, but clearly now he’s had a change of heart and he wants to come back to his motherland.
“And I wonder, because of the trip that he made earlier, and going back to his late mother’s ancestral home in Northamptonshire, whether that’s made a shift in his views, and he really wants to come back, because he’s missed his life here for the last six years.
“There will be questions asked, here is a non-working member of the royal family back in the United Kingdom. Should the British taxpayer really have to foot the bill for security?”