As they say a poignant farewell to Prince George this week on his first day at Eton College, the Prince and Princess of Wales are preparing for a momentous new chapter in their lives.
While moving to the prestigious Berkshire boarding school, which Prince Willam himself attended as a teenager, is a big step for 13-year-old George, it is far from the family’s only transition.
Indeed, this autumn very much feels like a shift change for William and Kate, who appear more united and in-step than ever as they return to royal duties after their summer break.
As William steps out this week for his first official engagement of the new season, the royal landscape looks decidedly different than it did before he and his family went on holiday – and before the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made their shock return to the UK.
But royal sources say the Prince and Princess will not allow Harry and Meghan’s arrival to distract or influence them as they gear up for a busy rest of the year. Instead, they are very much taking control as they focus on their jobs and their children, George and his siblings, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, eight.
© Getty ImagesWhile this involves, for now, supporting the King, both William and Kate have one eye on the future, according to Robert Jobson, author of The Windsor Legacy.
A strong couple
“They are on a clear path and they’re thinking about what their future is going to be,” Robert tells hello!. “They're focused on the kids and their projects. They are on a steady path which leads to the ultimate job, the top job. Now they're next in line, they're facing what their position will be, and that will be essentially to prepare the reign that they want and how they want to do it. William will take the lead, but it's going to be a team effort.
© Samir Hussein/WireImage“I think they're certainly stronger as a couple, but also as a family unit. You only have to look at them in public; they are very much a united couple and they're very much doing their job. They really haven't put a foot wrong. The way that Catherine has come back into the public eye was perfectly handled. They’ve got their image right, they've got their engagement at the level they want and they're spending enough time with their kids.
“I don't think that, because Harry and Meghan are here making a bit of noise, that's going to necessarily make them do anything. They'll probably think, well, we've been down this road before; it creates a circus and we're not going to get involved.”
Difficult to ignore
Nevertheless, the presence of Harry and Meghan will be difficult to ignore. The couple, who are believed to be living in the Cotswolds, flew into Birmingham last month in time for their children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, to start school.
While William and Kate have a busy autumn schedule of official engagements lined up, including his work around homelessness and mental health and hers involving young children and families, Harry and Meghan will be in the public eye too.
© The David Foster Foundation viaHarry is expected to be out in London later this month at the WellChild Awards, an annual event celebrating the courage of seriously ill children, hosted by the charity of which he is patron.
What's next for Meghan?
As for Meghan, she will be continuing to build her lifestyle brand, As Ever, while contemplating a relaunch of her acting career. However, the British actor Theo James last week dismissed reports of Meghan joining the third series of the Netflix show The Gentlemen, in which he stars, as “hot air”.
Meanwhile, she is still patron of Smart Works, the UK-wide charity which offers unemployed women and those on zero-hours contracts free coaching and clothing to help them secure a job. The charity tells hello! it is “very excited to welcome the Duchess and her family back to the UK”.
© Getty Imageshello!’s royal editor, Emily Nash, says: “What really fascinates me is what Meghan is going to do. She's essentially a private citizen here in the UK. Will she pop up with or for Harry? If she does, does that make it look more like they're sort of imitating royal engagements? I think this could become a bit of a problem for them.
“The other thing that I found fascinating was Theo James saying that all the rumours around her starring in The Gentlemen are hot air. That whole sort of PR bombshell about her returning to acting very specifically linked her to that production in particular, and now, people at the heart of it are saying it's not right. What is going on there?
"What really fascinates me is what Meghan is going to do"
“From the people I've been speaking to, I think Meghan's plan is to carry on doing what she's been doing. I'm sure they're working on some of the things they were doing with Archewell Philanthropies – the work she was doing around online harm, for example, I'm sure we'll see more of that kind of thing. But do they really want to return to the kind of engagements that they turned their back on? And if they do, how are people going to react to it?”
A family divided
One date in the royal calendar that is sure to highlight the divisions between Harry and his family is the National Service of Remembrance on 8 November, when senior royals traditionally gather at the Cenotaph in central London to honour members of the armed forces who have died in service.
© Max Mumby/IndigoHaving stepped down as working royals in 2020, Harry and Meghan will not be invited to join the King and other relatives at the service, but he might pay his respects elsewhere, as he has done in Los Angeles in the past.
“That’s a problem, because if Harry goes somewhere in Oxford and does it, it's going to look very odd, because it’s going to be an alternative moment,” Robert says. “As a veteran, he will probably want to do that, so unless they invite them into the fold, which I don't think they will at this moment in time, it creates an alternative which makes them look divided.
“You've got two conflicting households on the same patch, and that can't possibly work. I think something has to give along the way. It’s whether they invite Harry back inside, and if that's the case, then a lot of people won't be very happy.”
© Getty ImagesThere is also a question mark over whether the couple will be invited to Westminster Abbey for Kate’s annual carol concert, Together at Christmas, along with the rest of the family, and if they will join the royals for their festive celebrations at Sandringham.
"They will rise above it"
As for William and Kate, they will be keeping their eye on the road ahead and not reacting at all, according to Robert.
They could be attending the state dinner next month when the Sultan of Oman is welcomed for a three-day state visit to the UK, which will be hosted by the King and Queen.
© WireImageThere is also set to be another milestone for Kate and William this year, with talk of a return to joint international travel as Kate continues her recovery following her cancer diagnosis in 2024.
She is tipped to accompany William to Mumbai in November for the Earthshot Prize Summit and Awards, which would be their first major official overseas trip since they visited the Caribbean in 2022 and Kate’s first attendance at William’s environmental event since she joined him in Boston in 2022.
“I think if she's well enough to go, she will go,” Robert says. “All the indications are that she probably will. It's about time that she did.
“I think they're going to rise above all this,” he adds. “I don't think they're going to be involved in a tit for tat. Harry has turned up and put the ball back in their court, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to play.”
