People: Meghan ‘always’ lets Prince Harry ‘lead’ in dealings with the Windsors

Unsurprisingly, one of People Magazine’s covers this week is all about the Sussex family’s UK visit. It’s a long piece, and some of it was sourced from Prince Harry and Meghan’s team. Their team didn’t talk off-the-record about the Highgrove Summit, but they did talk about the chaos around the visit, the security issue and how Meghan continues to allow Harry to “lead” on issues involving Harry’s family. Interspersed with all of that, various royal commentators speak about how it’s a “shame” the Sussexes don’t live in the UK, and on and on about the Highgrove summit. Some highlights:

The Highgrove Summit: “One of the strangenesses of the monarchy is that we are all encouraged to forget they’re human beings because they’re representatives of the institution,” royal author Catherine Mayer tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “But at its heart it is just a family—and this family has gone through extraordinary upheavals. Whatever you think of the monarchy, this is a moment most of us wanted to see happen.”

The chaos around Harry’s visit: “There were U-turns and backtracks, and it will have all added to the complete exasperation of the King and his aides when dealing with Harry,” says Russell Myers, author of William & Catherine… After initially declining the offer to stay at a royal residence, Harry later sought to accept it—but palace officials maintained the deadline had passed, turning what should have been a private family matter into yet another public scuffle. Behind the scenes, the drama surrounding the visit was “quite stressful,” says a source close to the Sussexes. Adds Myers: “What was billed as a big homecoming—not only for Harry but potentially for Meghan too—turned into a nightmare. It was further evidence of the fractiousness of Harry’s relationship with the institution.”

For Harry, the public wrangling was as frustrating as it was familiar. “This is not the first time it has not been plain sailing with correspondence or trying to make things work,” says a well-placed source. “It all comes back to security. If that was resolved, there would be so much more certainty every time he comes—or they come.”

How Meghan felt: For Meghan, who had expected to spend much of the week alongside Harry, the turmoil was especially painful. A source who knows the couple says she would have felt “humiliated” watching the public back-and-forth unfold. Another source tells PEOPLE Meghan “is very supportive” of Harry, adding, “There’s a lot of sadness” over how the week unfolded and that she wasn’t able to be by his side. But, another insider adds, when it comes to Harry’s dealings with his family, “she always lets him lead.”

The ANL/Mail defeat: “The court case was a massive defeat for Harry,” says royal author Simon Vigar. But just minutes after the devastating news came down, he had a job to do. As reporters’ phones buzzed with alerts announcing the verdict shortly after 2 p.m., the Duke of Sussex walked onto the stage for an Invictus Games conference, greeting the audience with a joke about the venue being “one of the few rooms in the U.K. that has air-conditioning” amid the sweltering London heat wave. Though he would later denounce the ruling as a “complete and obvious whitewash,” Harry kept his attention fixed on the veterans and military leaders gathered before him. At one point he observed that “what brings us together is far more important than what sets us apart.” His ability to keep calm and carry on astounded many in the crowd. Says the well-placed source: “He can compartmentalize. He was there to support the people at the Invictus Games.”

The Invictus One Year to Go events: “Invictus is Harry on his A game. It was ‘Look at what you’re missing,’ ” adds Vigar, author of the upcoming Four Wives of Windsor. “It is a crying shame. Meghan and Harry could have been absolutely transformative for the royal family.”

More on the Highgrove Summit: For the first time since 2022, Archie and Lilibet saw the grandfather they barely knew. The gathering also marked only the third meeting between Harry and Charles since the King’s 2024 cancer diagnosis. Queen Camilla, 78, was present as well, Buckingham Palace confirmed. “She is a non-negotiable part of Charles’s life,” says Mayer, author of Divide and Rule. “There is no reconciliation with him without her.” The palace asserted that there would be no photos released and no details of what was discussed. “It is better that people don’t know anything about these meetings,” says a source close to the family. “They should be allowed to rekindle those family ties.”

William & Harry’s rift: “It’s so broken,” an insider says. Adds a source who knows both brothers: “I thought it would have perhaps eased a little bit by now, to be honest. But there has been no movement, especially on William’s side. There is no contact.”

How Princess Diana would feel about her sons’ rift: “[Princess] Diana would be devastated that it has turned out like this, particularly because [the brothers] were once so close,” Vigar says of the situation between her sons today.

The Birmingham Invictus games: Looking ahead to the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham next summer, sources say Harry would welcome his father’s support in his role as head of the British Armed Forces, a powerful sign that the thaw between them is continuing. But if the past week underscored anything, it was the balancing act that Harry lives every day. In Montecito, he has built the life he fought for, with Meghan, Archie and Lilibet at its center. In Britain remain the memories, unresolved rifts and royal heritage that continue to define him. “He’s never lived a life here where he hasn’t been entangled in his past life,” says an insider who knows him in California. “He’s always had one foot there.”

[From People]

I have two somewhat contradictory thoughts at once. One, I believe that Harry is absolutely still entangled in his past and that he still feels like he has so much unfinished business in the UK. Two, I also believe that royalists continuously overemphasize Harry’s desire to be “entangled” with the UK. He’s spoken repeatedly about how California is his home now, how he’ll never live in England again, how he’s happy he gets to raise his kids with peace and privacy. All of that is real and genuine. But yeah, he also wishes that he could visit the UK semi-regularly and bring his kids over without it turning into a global humiliation ritual. I’ve said this before, but I hope that everything that happened last week marks a real change for both Harry and Meghan. The Windsors have proven, for the millionth time, that not only are they incapable of adjusting, but that they will become more and more aggressively toxic towards Harry, Meghan and their kids.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images. Cover courtesy of People.