Harry and Meghan Will Want To ‘Replace' Wiliam And Kate If They Return To Royal Family: Insider
There is a 'wave of deep unease' amidst the palace courtiers, who think Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, in the long run intend to be the replacements of Prince William and Kate Middleton, in the firm, and they have been carefully choreographing their steps for the same. Harry’s appearance at Clarence House last month was his first face-to-face meeting with King Charles in nearly two years. The King, now 77 and undergoing cancer treatment, granted his younger son only a tightly controlled window of time before Harry left for charity engagements and returned to California.
According to senior palace sources, Harry and Meghan are no longer viewed simply as estranged family members, but as a parallel power centre operating outside the palace. One well-placed aide described a “wave of deep unease” that followed the Sussexes’ renewed proximity to the monarch, however fleeting it may have been, per OK! And from Prince William’s team, one insider said, “Among William's team, there is a belief that Harry and Meghan have positioned themselves as a sort of alternative royal unit. The term ‘sleeper cells’ is being used half-jokingly, but the suspicion is very real.”
The fear, sources suggest, is not about whether the Sussexes could return as working royals, but is about how power operates from afar. Another insider told the same outlet, “The idea is that they destabilize from afar, then step in when the pressure mounts, and that there is then a danger of Harry and Meghan launching fresh attacks on William and Kate to further destabilize the monarchy. They are a toxic poison for the royal family is the biggest and most widespread fear at the moment.”
For palace strategists, the Sussexes no longer function as defectors but as disruptors. They have gone as far as speculating that the couple wants something more. “They will simply want to replace William and Kate as The Firm's senior figures if they return to the royal family – Harry's vanity and Meghan's ego will dictate that. They should be kept as far from the royals as possible.”
The growing narrative has been further fuelled by a pattern that the courtiers can no longer ignore: the repeated clashing of Harry and William’s public schedules. Even during Harry’s recent stint in Britain, when he was moving through back-to-back engagements, William’s diary remained firmly blocked out elsewhere. The overlaps have continued even across continents. While William was in Brazil on official duty, Harry was simultaneously in Toronto, meeting war veterans during the Remembrance weekend, and it invited scrutiny over the younger brother trying to upstage William. Now, another parallel moment is lining up next month. The heir apparent and the heir apparent’s brother are both set to take on high-profile public-facing roles, but on entirely different continents and for very different causes. William will be in Wales to visit centres at the Wales Investment Summit in Newport, while Harry is scheduled to address the OREA Power House Conference in Toronto. Different missions, different geographies, but once again, the same spotlight window.