Meghan and Harry’s UK return was meant to quiet the noise but it’s turned into the kind of chaos that follows them right into the smallest moments.
Meghan and Harry have moved to the Cotswolds (Image: Getty)
It was a major shock when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle headed back to the UK – as Britain seemed the last place on earth where they have ever wanted to be. In 2020’s ‘Megxit’, the Sussexes rather glibly dubbed their exit to California their “freedom flight” and it seemed they would never return.
In 2025 Harry told the BBC he could not “see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point” due to ongoing safety issues. But then the couple, along with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, suddenly jetted back here to live almost unannounced – with only the slightest of warnings – and lo and behold, they are bemoaning security issues again.
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King Charles was reportedly blindsided by the Sussexes’ sudden move back to the UK, learning of the plans only days before they returned.
The whole thing is already starting to feel like a bit of a shambles.
In farcical scenes, they have already pulled Archie and Lilibet out of their new school after just a few days because their team had not realised that rush house traffic might affect their ability to travel in convoy to and from drop-offs.
Parents at Harry and Meghan’s kids school were reportedly left stunned after the Sussexes “rocked up in blacked out cars”.
Blacked-out cars? Convoys? Have they hired an ex-US President’s entire security detail?
Official UK media abide by extremely strict guidelines when dealing with any children and would never in a million years turn up at any primary school and start taking pictures.
Harry and Meghan have moved to the leafy Cotswolds (Image: Getty)
Hello! magazine reported that Harry and Meghan’s bodyguard had carried out checks at Archie and Lilibet’s first UK school during the summer holidays but – surprise, surprise – found it far more hectic and busy when they returned for the first day of term.
Yes – hence why it is called the school run. It tends to get busy.
Archie and Lilibet are now at a different school.
The haphazard way they scouted the security for that first school just sums up their haphazard return to the UK.
The King has stressed they are ‘private citizens’ and not working royals but they claim in fact they are ‘public figures’; so what are they going to do here? It’s just not been clearly thought out.
Now look – none us exactly knows why the Sussexes have suddenly returned so we must give them some leeway. It could be for any number of private family, financial or personal reasons.
But it also sums up the way the Sussexes have executed any number of aspects of their media, business or family decisions in recent years – hurriedly, rashly, poorly and unwisely.
The Reform UK leader hit out at the Archbishop of Canterbury over the furore.
Nigel Farage erupted at the Archbishop of Canterbury in a row over her giving an award to a Muslim cleric who praised Osama bin Laden. Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi received the honour for reconciliation and interfaith cooperation last week on the anniversary of 9/11.
But Dame Sarah Mullally was forced to withdraw the award following a backlash after it emerged he praised the mastermind of the terror attacks in comments made in 2007. Speaking on his GB News show, the Reform UK leader said: “Every time we get a new Archbishop I think it must get better, it doesn’t, it gets worse.”
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Mr Farage added: “Why oh why is the Archbishop of Canterbury giving an award to a man who praised Osama bin Laden just a few years after the Twin Towers?”
Mr Ashrafi, the chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council which is a group of Islamic scholars, received the award “for his outstanding work as an ambassador of interfaith harmony in Pakistan”.
But the honour sparked a backlash after past comments emerged that he made about Bin Laden.
Speaking after The Satanic Versus author Sir Salman Rushdie was knighted in 2007, Mr Ashrafi said: “We are pleased to award the title of Saifullah [sword of God] to Osama bin Laden after the British government’s decision to bestow the title of ‘Sir’ on blasphemer Rushdie. This is the highest title for a Muslim warrior.
“If a blasphemer can be given the title ‘Sir’ by the West despite the fact he’s hurt the feelings of Muslims, then a mujahid who has been fighting for Islam against the Russians, Americans and British must be given the lofty title of Islam, Saifullah.”
Lambeth Palace said in a statement yesterday that the award had been withdrawn.
It said: “The award was given for Imam Ashrafi’s longstanding support for religious minorities in Pakistan, particularly the Christian community – support that is valued by many Christians in Pakistan including its Anglican Church.
“It is a longstanding principle of interfaith dialogue and co-operation that we must engage with one another across deeply-held differences, and that remains the case.
“However, previous comments made by Imam Ashrafi have come to light that have led Lambeth Palace to reconsider this award and we can now confirm today that the award has been withdrawn. We have contacted Imam Ashrafi to make him aware of this decision.”
A spokesman for Mr Ashrafi and his council said his remarks had been taken “out of context”.
He said: “Our position against terrorism, extremism, suicide attacks and the killing of innocent people is clear and unequivocal. We have consistently worked for peace, moderation and interfaith harmony.”