William And Kate Plan To 'Go On Ignoring The Sussexes' Despite Harry And Meghan's UK Return This Fall

LONDON — Prince William and Princess Kate have no intention of reaching out to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle following the couple's return to the United Kingdom, according to a friend of the Wales family cited by Daily Mail diary editor Richard Eden, despite mounting public pressure on the couple to reconcile with the Sussexes.

Harry and Meghan touched down in Birmingham last week alongside their two children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, in a move that has drawn significant media attention given its timing and the family's reported plans to settle in the Cotswolds. Despite the high-profile nature of the return, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have not interacted with William and Kate since Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in September 2022, even as Harry spent time with King Charles and Queen Camilla in July.

According to Eden, a friend of the Prince and Princess of Wales indicated the couple's strategy toward the Sussexes remains unchanged regardless of their physical proximity following the move to Britain.

"It makes no difference if Harry and Meghan are in Oxfordshire, California or Timbuktu," the royal insider told Eden.

That characterization aligns with separate reporting from People magazine, which similarly indicated the Waleses are deliberately avoiding what one source described as a "knee-jerk reaction" to Harry and Meghan's relocation, suggesting William and Kate view the couple's return as unlikely to meaningfully alter the current state of their relationship.

The brothers have not spoken in several years, according to accounts of the relationship's current status, a rift that has persisted despite periodic public speculation and various reported reconciliation efforts over the past several years. While some royal commentators have argued that responsibility for repairing the relationship ultimately falls on William, given his position as heir to the throne, Eden pushed back directly against that framing in his column.

Eden wrote that he disagreed with the notion that William and Kate bear responsibility for initiating a reconciliation, describing the pressure being placed on the couple as "unfair and wrong." Eden pointed to what he characterized as a pattern of public grievances aired by Harry and Meghan against the royal family as justification for that position.

According to Eden, Harry and Meghan "betrayed and insulted" William and Kate not only through their widely watched 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, but also through their subsequent Netflix docuseries, Harry's 2023 memoir "Spare," and what Eden described as a "seemingly endless stream" of additional interviews Harry has given publicly addressing his relationship with the royal family since stepping back from senior duties in 2020.

Eden's account adds to a long history of reporting on the strained relationship between the two brothers dating back to Harry and Meghan's initial departure from royal life. Camilla Tominey, associate editor of The Daily Telegraph, previously reported that Kate had privately told friends before the Oprah interview aired that she believed it was not too late to "pull them back in," and that she remained keen to "bury the hatchet" even after the interview's bombshell claims became public, reportedly out of concern for young Prince Archie's relationship with his cousins at the time.

More recently, other royal commentators, including Eden himself in earlier reporting, have floated the existence of what some have dubbed "Project Thaw," an alleged effort by figures within the broader royal establishment to help gradually rehabilitate Harry and Meghan's standing and eventually facilitate their return to some form of royal engagement. That reported effort has drawn criticism from royal watchers who argue it could undermine William and Kate's position, given the perception that Harry has not offered any direct apology for his public criticisms of the family.

Despite the persistent rift, Harry has continued to maintain at least limited contact with his father. His July meeting with King Charles at Clarence House for tea marked a notable, if brief, moment of direct engagement between the two, following a period of limited in-person contact between them. That meeting has been cited by some commentators as evidence of a gradual, if uneven, thaw in relations between Harry and at least some members of his family, even as his relationship with William and Kate has shown no comparable signs of movement.

Royal author Katie Nicholl has previously described Kate as having served as a stabilizing presence for William throughout the ongoing rift with his brother, characterizing her as a source of guidance and support during what Nicholl described as a genuinely difficult period for William personally.

The renewed attention on the state of the relationship between the two couples comes at a particularly sensitive moment for the Wales family, given Prince George's upcoming start at Eton College this month, a milestone royal commentators have separately noted William and Kate had hoped to navigate without additional distraction stemming from Harry and Meghan's public profile.

Representatives for the Sussexes have not directly addressed Eden's latest reporting regarding William and Kate's approach to their return, consistent with the pattern of limited direct engagement between the two camps' respective representatives on matters related to their personal relationship. Kensington Palace has likewise not issued any public statement addressing the specific claims made in Eden's column.

Eden's reporting reflects a broader pattern within British royal media coverage, in which commentators with varying degrees of access to sources close to the royal family periodically offer competing, and at times directly conflicting, characterizations of the ongoing rift between the brothers. While some reports have suggested growing pressure or momentum toward eventual reconciliation, Eden's latest account suggests that, at least from the perspective of those close to William and Kate, no such shift appears imminent despite Harry and Meghan's relocation back to British soil.

With Harry and Meghan reportedly settling into life in the Cotswolds and George's Eton debut approaching later this month, the coming weeks are likely to continue drawing scrutiny to whether any of the various reported reconciliation efforts, official or otherwise, ultimately produce a meaningful shift in the relationship between the two brothers, or whether William and Kate's reported strategy of maintaining distance regardless of the Sussexes' physical location continues to define the family dynamic heading into the fall.