A month after Meghan Markle and Prince Harry reached an arrangement to step back from royal duties, Princess Anne spoke about the younger generation of royals wanting to do things a "new way" when it came to philanthropy. Her thoughts at the time? "Please do not reinvent that particular wheel."
Now, one tall red feather hat and a Frogmore Cottage eviction she reportedly played a role in later, the Princess Royal's nephew and his family are back in the UK for an extended stay. So, will the no-nonsense royal welcome the Sussexes with open arms?
Anne will "put her best foot forward"
Katie Nicholl, author of The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth's Legacy and the Future of the Crown, tells HELLO!: "Harry has always had a very good relationship with his aunt Princess Anne. This relationship has certainly been tested and when I sat down with her to interview her back in 2020, just after Megxit, she gave me a very sort of coded message, which was, it's all very well the new younger royals doing things differently, but they shouldn't try and reinvent the wheel.
© Richard Pohle - WPA Pool/Getty Images"I took that very much to be a word of warning, a cautionary word to Meghan and Harry that yes, of course there needs to be changes, but, but not to do anything too drastically. I think she will be one who has sort of sat back, predicted all of this, not been surprised that they're coming back somewhat with their tails between their legs because things haven't worked in America.
"Even if there would briefly be a cold shoulder, I think Anne will put her best foot forward and follow the example of the Queen in being magnanimous and forgiving - she's a good aunt in that respect."
A glimpse of Anne's stance towards Harry emerged well after his Oprah interview, but prior to the release of his memoir Spare and the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan. When the Duke arrived at Balmoral, after being "not invited" to fly with other relatives there the day Queen Elizabeth died in 2022, it was his aunt who greeted him. Harry recalled in his 60 Minutes interview: "I walked into the hall, and my aunt was there to greet me. And she asked me if I wanted to see her." Robert Hardman later wrote in his book Charles III: New King, New Court: The Inside Story that Anne "greeted him with a hug and escorted him up to the Queen's bedroom, where he was left to pay his respects to his late grandmother."
© POOL/ Tim Graham Picture Library/Getty ImagesThe King will set the tone
Harry expressed a desire to reconcile with his family more than a year before temporarily relocating back to the UK. While the Duke of Sussex has acknowledged that some members of his family "will never forgive" him for writing his book, among other things, he told BBC News in 2025: "I would love reconciliation with my family. I've always, you know, there's no point in continuing to fight any more."
Although Harry has reunited with his father over the years since leaving the UK for the US in 2020, his return to their side of the pond raises questions about what it could mean for his relationships with the wider family. He is estranged from his older brother, Prince William, while a source previously revealed to HELLO! that the Duke and Duchess are "not so close to" his cousins, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, anymore.
It's the King's cue that Katie thinks the royals will take when it comes to mending fences. "Forging a path for conciliation with the wider family I think, for the most part, where the King leads, the others will follow," Katie says.
"I think there is an acceptance amongst the royals that while this has been unexpected, they are going to have to do their best to appear to be making Harry and Meghan and the children feel welcome because at the heart of the royal family are those sort of Christian values of compassion and forgiveness."
