Meghan Markle and Prince Harry should heed the ‘emotional power’ of the Queen’s funeral and be team players, a royal historian has said.
Robert Lacey views the period of mourning as having shown that the US-based couple can have a closer relationship with Buckingham Palace.
Meghan was seen wiping away a tear during the service for Queen Elizabeth II, which was held at Westminster Abbey yesterday.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex took their places after walking solemnly behind the Queen’s coffin as it was brought into the ceremony.
They showed signs of their grief during the service, with Prince Harry ‘losing the struggle with his emotions’, according to a body language expert.
Mr Lacey highlighted signs of healing among the royals, but predicts it will not be ‘plain sailing’ as King Charles III begins his reign.
The author and historian told Metro.co.uk: ‘There are storm clouds on the horizon. It’s not all plain sailing by any means.
‘Unless Harry changes his mind, his memoir is due to come out this autumn, and his comments about it so far indicate that it will be controversial and he won’t shy away from revealing family difficulties.
‘Then there remains the issue of whether they are simply going to go back to California. With the slimmed-down Royal Family there’s a real niche they could fill if they cared to.
‘Maybe now that Meghan has been here for this period and experienced for the first time the full emotional power and importance of the monarchy, maybe she’ll see there is a role for her playing a part in the team, but it depends on her willingness to be a team player.’
Meghan, 41, and Harry, 38, are due to fly back to the US, where it is said their children Archie, three, and one-year-old Lilibet have remained.
One suggestion has been that they might become part-time royals as they rejoin ‘The Firm’ following their break from the UK fold in January 2020.
The couple’s public appearances have included joining Prince William and Kate Middleton on a walkabout outside Windsor Castle on Saturday.
The brothers also walked side-by-side behind the Queen’s coffin during the sombre procession before the state funeral.
But the Sussexes were left out of the fold when they were ‘uninvited’ to a state reception on the eve of the service, according to a report.
Palace aides were said to have initially invited the couple to an evening for world leaders and foreign leaders, before rescinding the offer on the basis that the occasion was for working royals only.
The mixed reports about their UK return following the Queen’s death on September 8 are set against the backdrop of their stated desire to become financially independent of the Royal Family.
Mr Lacey said: ‘The success of the late Queen was that, despite not being born into the main line of succession, and not expecting to be Queen, she grew up as a team player.
‘Her great strength was that when she became captain of the team, she remained a team player.
‘That is what Meghan has to learn, that royal celebrity is not the same as showbusiness celebrity and maybe in the last 10 days or so she has learned that, seen a deeper side and thought that maybe there is a role for her.
‘Maybe she and Harry will be welcomed back.’
King Charles has begun his reign in the world’s eye, with media experts hailing the funeral as the most-viewed global event in history.
As he begins life on the throne accompanied by Camilla, the Queen Consort, his next engagement of comparable scale will be the Coronation, which is expected to take place next year.
‘One of the final sights at the Queen’s Committal was the crown and orb and sceptre on the coffin,’ Mr Lacey said.
‘The next time we are going to see them in Westminster Abbey they are going to be placed on the head and in the hands of King Charles, so we’re looking at the past as well as the future.
‘King Charles has answered the doubters very strongly with the way he has reached out and started to heal the royal rift between the brothers.
‘Funerals in any family are a time for reflection and often a time for fresh starts and that seems to be the case now.’
Mr Lacey views the new sovereign as a figure who may be able to heal the rift between Prince Harry and Prince William.
‘The fact that Charles persuaded his sons to go out together and meet the crowds at Windsor a few days ago, that shows progress,’ the writer said.
‘They’re not pretending they are back to being best buddies, and maybe they never will be, because the friction involves their marriages which have made them into different people, but they have shown when the challenge is there, they can put their differences aside.
‘We saw this at the funeral of the Queen Mother, when they dedicated a statue to their mother, Diana, and again yesterday.
‘When there is a bigger cause, they can put their differences aside.
‘Charles’s speeches have been more eloquent, he expresses more freely than was the style of his mother and I think that his exploding over his leaking fountain pen shows a human side. The way in which Camilla helped to soothe him and calm him down showed that they have a partnership in a way that the Queen and Prince Philip worked together.
‘With the reflection, sadness and goodwill from the day of the funeral, I think the signs for the future are very promising.’
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