THE DESPERATION’S SHOWING

Tom Bower: This Is What Meghan’s Really Up To

A longtime royal correspondent says Harry and Meghan have “run out of ideas.”

A royal correspondent thinks Harry and Meghan have run out of options—so they’re “crawling” back to Buckingham Palace.

Tom Bower, a longtime royal biographer and author of Betrayal: Power, Deceit and the Fight for the Future of the Royal Family, believes it’s easy to understand why the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are returning to the institution they publicly shunned six years ago.

“I think you can summarize it in two words: desperation and failure,” he told Tom Sykes on The Royalist podcast. “They’ve run out of ideas, and their finances are basically in jeopardy.”

“And Meghan is someone who is desperate for fame. She’s desperate for recognition. She is desperate for money, of course, and status,” he went on. “And it just seems to her that a visit to the royal family in Britain would restore to her the credibility she once had.”

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The controversial couple is bringing their two kids—Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5—back to the U.K. in July for the first time in four years to mark the one-year countdown to the 2027 Invictus Games.

The visit follows Prince Harry’s interview with the BBC last year, when he expressed a desire for “reconciliation” with the royal family.

“I think, for Harry, it’s worse because Harry is isolated in California. He misses his roots, he misses England, and somehow wants to worm his way back into the affections not only of his own family, but of the British people,” Bower said.

“We’re seeing them effectively crawl on bended knees back to Britain, and they are to be pathetically grateful if the king agrees,” he added.

It remains unclear whether King Charles will meet with his grandkids. The last time he saw them was in 2022 for the late Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

But Bower isn’t convinced that Harry and Meghan will receive “a royal welcome,” which he said is what the Suits star “really wants.”

Buckingham Palace “won’t allow Meghan to parade herself as a member of the royal family and the Duchess in Britain itself, to actually earn money and earn glory from having married the Prince,” Bower said.

“I mean, we are then into really sordid, controversial territory, if in any way she’s allowed to exploit that situation.”

Archewell, the philanthropy-slash-production company run by Harry and Meghan, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sykes previously reported that palace insiders are divided on how to deal with the Sussexes.

The hawks, led by the king’s personal private secretary, Sir Clive Alderton, believe that Harry’s behavior is unforgivable and that the monarchy will be harmed if the couple is reinstated by the king. Prince William, Harry’s brother, has taken their side.

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The doves, led by former diplomat and Alderton’s deputy Theo Rycroft, agree with the king’s wish to reconcile with Harry to fuel the Victorian myth of the model family.

An Ipsos poll conducted in March found that public support for the royal family is at its lowest level in more than three decades. The number of British people who still want a monarchy has dropped to 55 percent—an 11-percentage point fall in just three years.

Join veteran royal correspondent Tom Sykes in the throne room to find out how the secret world of the palace really operates—every bit of royal tea you could need. New Royalist podcasts will be released every Tuesday on YouTube, and the next day on all podcast platforms.

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Julia OrnedoReporter

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