The Duke of Sussex says his legal battle with the press caused a rift between him and the royal family, but it has also had serious repercussions for the Duchess and their children

With rumors circulating about Prince Harry’s possible return to the UK for the Invictus Games in Birmingham in 2027, many are speculating whether Meghan Markle might join him. 

This has sparked curiosity about a potential homecoming tour.

Now, though, the Prince has revealed the troubling reason behind his refusal to bring his wife to Britain.

In the ITV documentary *Tabloids on Trial*, the royal father-of-two discussed his mission to expose the illegal tactics of Britain’s tabloid press. 

This followed the High Court’s December ruling that the Duke of Sussex had been targeted by phone hacking and other illegal methods by Mirror Group Newspapers.

And while he said that the ‘monumental victory’ had felt incredibly vindicating, the Prince spoke honestly about how the backlash from taking on the tabloids had not only damaged his relationship with the rest of the royals, but had left him fearing for the safety of his young family.

The media retaliation against his legal battle, said Prince Harry, meant that he felt it was too dangerous to bring Meghan back to the UK. ‘All it takes is one lone actor, one person who read this stuff, to act on what they have read,’ Harry explained, ‘and whether that is a knife or acid … they are genuine concerns for me, they are one of the reasons I won’t bring my wife back to this country.’

Protecting his family from further security risks, he said, is what motivates him in his fight against the press – but Prince Harry said he also feels that the legal process has had a detrimental impact on his relationship with the royal family.

While acknowledging that any reference to the Palace would generate ‘a torrent of abuse’ from the media, the Duke of Sussex admitted that his decision to engage in this series of public legal battles was a ‘central piece’ in the breakdown of his relationship with the rest of the Windsors. ‘I’ve made it clear that this is something that needs to be done,’ said the Prince. ‘For me, the mission continues … but it has caused part of a rift.’

The Duke of Sussex and his brother were both victims of phone hacking but dealt with the prospect of a court battle in different ways. Rather than engaging in a public legal feud, Prince William settled out of court with News Group for ‘a very large sum of money’.

Prince Harry, however, expressed regret that the royal family had not taken on the tabloids together, acting in service to the general public, ‘This is something that needs to be done. It would be nice if we did it as a family. I believe that from a service standpoint and when you’re in a public role that these are the things that we should be doing for the greater good.’

There was one member of the royal family, however, that the Duke of Sussex recalls supporting him in his legal battle. His grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth, would want him to ‘see this through to the end’, said Harry. ‘We had many conversations before she passed. This is very much something she supported.’ He continued: ‘She knew how much this meant to me and she’s very much up there going, “See this through to the end”, without question.’

Safety threats must be a harrowing thought for any family, and it is one that has clearly been on the Sussexes’ mind recently. When Prince Harry travelled to London to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, it was reported that Meghan Markle planned to join her husband, but cancelled the trip after their schedule was leaked. ‘It’s now got to the point where Meghan doesn’t want to come to the UK with the children. She just doesn’t feel safe,’ reports the Daily Record.

In the year Prince Harry moved his family to California, he lost a court battle challenging the Home Office’s decision to no longer offer his family the ‘same degree’ of taxpayer-funded security that they were granted as working royals. The Prince appealed the decision regarding this ‘downgrading’, but that case was rejected in April.

The court was told that the Duke of Sussex believes it impossible for his children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet to ‘feel at home’ in Britain if a perceived lack of sufficient security makes it impossible to ‘keep them safe’ in the country.

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Source: CNN