'Frenzy' expected as Prince Harry mulls rare family trip to UK

Topic: Royalty Prince Harry has security concerns about his family's scheduled trip to Britain next week. (Reuters: Valentyn Ogirenko) The Duke and Duchess of Sussex survey Bondi Beach during their visit earlier this year. (Pool: Jonathan Brady via Reuters) Ms Hagan said paparazzi would be "desperate" to capture images of the children's faces, which the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have always tried to shield from public view. The Duchess of Sussex's social media accounts feature many photographs of Archie and Lilibet from behind. "There definitely will be a frenzy to see them, to see Harry, and Meghan, and to four of them and to get those first pictures of Harry's children, Princess Diana's grandchildren," Ms Hagan said. Just over a year ago, when the duke lost a legal challenge for guaranteed security protection while he is in the UK, he made his feelings about future visits to his home country clear. "I can't see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point," he told the BBC in May 2025. Loading Instagram content His visit next week is timed around commitments as founder of the Invictus Games, an international multi-sport event for wounded, injured and sick military service personnel and veterans held every two years. Sydney hosted the event in 2018, and next year, it is set to take place in Birmingham. "This opportunity has arisen around the one year to go until the Invictus Games, and I think he's taken that as a sign that he should bring his family to the UK so they can try and perhaps build some bridges," Ms Hagan said. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have had strained relations with the royal family. In 2020 the couple announced they would be stepping back from their roles as working royals and moving to the United States. They gave an interview to veteran broadcaster Oprah Winfrey the following year, in which Prince Harry and Meghan accused the royal family of institutional racism. The release of Prince Harry's autobiography in 2023, which included claims of a physical altercation with his brother in 2019, was also regarded as driving a wedge between the Sussexes, and other royals. Harry 'wants to work towards reconciliation', says royal commentator Next week's visit would be the first time Prince Harry's father King Charles III has seen his grandchildren since June 2022, during the late Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee celebrations.