Prince Harry’s Six Impending Moments of Conflict With the Royals

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's U.K. return has been complex already, following an argument with the palace over whether they were "private citizens," but there are several further potential points of conflict approaching over the next year.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had been living in California for six years when they moved back to Britain in August. And there were signs of tension with Buckingham Palace earlier this month over a letter sent on King Charles III's behalf to officials in government and the military clarifying the couple's status. Harry and Meghan's team pushed back on wording describing them as "private citizens" rather than "public figures."

There are also multiple events in the royal calendar that the Sussexes could hypothetically attend now they live in Britain, if they were invited.

Only time will tell whether the Sussexes will expect an invite, get an invite, or mind if they do not get one. However, the palace may wish to think carefully about how they approach a potentially volatile situation.

For King Charles III and Buckingham Palace that means deciding how far Harry and Meghan should be welcomed back into the fold, following deeply personal criticisms in Harry's book, Spare, and past interviews. A years-long rift with Prince William, the heir to the throne, also persists.

Harry has said previously he is not on speaking terms with his brother and the last time they were at the same event together was Queen Elizabeth II's funeral, four years ago in September 2022. King Charles met Harry as recently as July and may be left needing to choose which of his sons to risk offending.

The first potentially tricky moment in the calendar is remembrance, when Britain holds a number of events attended by the royals to reflect on the sacrifice of the country's war dead.

In particular, there will be events in London at Westminster Abbey and the Royal Albert Hall before Remembrance Sunday, at The Cenotaph, the national war memorial.

These are generally for working royals and often attended by the prime minister and other senior politicians, past and present. However, Harry is a war veteran who saw front line service in Afghanistan at the guns of an Apache helicopter where he killed 25 Taliban insurgents, according to his book Spare.

In January, he paid tribute to the sacrifice of British troops during the war, saying: "I served there. I made lifelong friends there. And I lost friends there."

In 2020, Harry had arranged for a wreath to be laid on his behalf at The Cenotaph while he remained in America due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the move was blocked.

Biography Finding Freedom, by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, later reported he was "saddened and disappointed by the decision," quoting a source who said: "Ten years of service and a lifetime commitment to the military community and this is how it's been acknowledged by his family."

The Princess of Wales holds an annual carol service in early December at Westminster Abbey and in the past has invited royal family members. Not all attend, including King Charles III, who has missed a number of them.

Few would expect Kate to invite Harry, who said himself in a 2023 interview with Anderson Cooper for 60 Minutes that he is no longer on speaking terms with William, her husband.

However, there have been times when Sussex announcements lined up with, and potentially overshadowed, the event, deliberately or otherwise.

Most famously, in 2022 the second part of the couple's Netflix biopic Harry & Meghan dropped on December 15 at 8 a.m. U.K. time, the morning before Kate and other senior royals were due to attend the carols in person at the abbey.

The royals generally hold a lunch at Buckingham Palace, in London, on a Wednesday in mid-December, often the Wednesday before Christmas though this year that would be December 23, by which point the family has usually left London for Sandringham.

Attendance is for the whole family and not limited to working royals. In past years, it has been an opportunity for the less famous royals to celebrate with senior family members.

In fact, it was after the pre-Christmas lunch where Princess Michael of Kent famously apologized over allegations she wore a "racist brooch," in the Blackamoor tradition, to the first event where she met Meghan.

The broad nature of the usual invite list may create a greater expectation Harry and Meghan would be invited and greater chance they might be offended if they were not.

However, it is also possible the Sussex family will simply indicate they are heading home to California for Christmas and therefore turn down any invitation before it has been sent out.

Similarly, attendance at the royal family's Christmas celebrations at Sandringham is not restricted to working royals and in fact is not even restricted to those still married into the family.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, the former Duchess of York, attended in December 2023 and were photographed joining the royal family on their walk to church.

Mountbatten-Windsor was still a prince at the time but had stepped back from public life over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein four years earlier in 2019 following a car crash interview with the BBC in which he did not express sympathy for Epstein's victims.

Virginia Giuffre accused Mountbatten-Windsor of sexually assaulting her in London, New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2001, when she was a 17-year-old Epstein trafficking victim, and filed a lawsuit at Federal Court in the Southern District of New York in 2021. Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied the allegations and settled in 2022, paying an undisclosed sum in damages while denying liability.

Ferguson divorced him in the 1990s but they remained on good terms and have two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, who have never been working royals. While Mountbatten-Windsor and Ferguson are not expected to attend the royal Christmas in 2026 following further developments in the Epstein scandal, their daughters went last year.

All of that precedent may make it difficult for the palace to avoid inviting Harry and Meghan but if the Sussexes did go to Christmas that might prove complicated for Prince William.

The Invictus Games, Prince Harry's Paralympic Games-style tournament for the military community, is coming to Britain's second largest city, Birmingham, in July, raising the prospect that King Charles could potentially attend the opening ceremony.

Charles and William both attended the last time the games was in England, for the inaugural competition in 2014, but Harry was a working royal at the time and relations were still good.

There is little chance of William endorsing Harry's project but the king implicitly indicated his support for Invictus earlier this month after Uganda pulled out.

The east African country's armed forces had withdrawn following a letter sent on behalf of the king by the head of the Royal Household, the Lord Chamberlain, clarifying that Harry and Meghan were "private citizens" not "working royals."

Uganda returned to Invictus only after Charles' most senior aide, Sir Clive Alderton, personally rang to confirm that the monarchy would support their readmission.

If the king were to attend, it would represent major institutional backing just a month out from another major potential flashpoint.

August 2027 will be the 30th anniversary of Princess Diana's death and Prince Harry has been in talks about a range of possible projects. The Sussexes have a "first look" deal with Netflix, meaning if he makes a TV show it will likely be offered to the streamer for first refusal.

That could be controversial, in part because William said the brothers would not open up about their mother's death again when they made a series of shows to mark the 20th anniversary in 2017.

Any film that was made for profit would also potentially open up the Sussexes to allegations they were making money from Diana's memory.

There is an additional risk too that knowing the film was coming could sour relations between Harry and his father. Charles met Harry for tea in July but continuing to see his son in the run up to a film about his ex-wife could potentially risk looking like a tacit endorsement of a project William would likely oppose.

In all examples, there are multiple paths both sides could go down, some of which would not result in conflict. Equally, there are many potential landmines to avoid along the way.