'Prince Harry and Meghan are here to stay - royals need to prove who the real stars are'

The summer season often feels like a void waiting to be filled when covering the royal family. An engagement here or there in Scotland as the King and Queen take up residence at Balmoral. A few of the family popping in to visit on occasion. Perhaps, the Prime Minister – or, if you've even remotely been following British politics for the last few years, Prime Ministers might be more apt – will also get to spend a weekend with the King. Yet the end of this summer break has been markedly different for the one story dominating the headlines in recent weeks. Harry and Meghan's return not only caught everyone off guard, it was a bolt from the blue that none of the royal family thought possible. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s relocation from sun soaked California to the soon-to-be wet and windy rolling hills of the Cotswolds continues to pose many more questions than answers. This week there appears to have been much confusion over whether Harry has, or hasn't, reached out to the King since his arrival two weeks ago. Certainly from where I've been standing, there appears to be two sides of the story. Of course only one can be the correct scenario but what is unhelpful to both sides is the concept of a briefing war, between the royal households, the Sussexes or anyone else meddling in this increasingly bizarre set of circumstances. For the time being anyway, the Sussexes are here to stay. While they may have been irked by the King’s recent proclamation that they are “private citizens” and do not represent the royal family, just like those family members you wish you didn't have to speak to at a wedding, there will need to be some sort of resolution in the future. It may be far from the reconciliation that Harry has increasingly spoken of in the last year or so, but many at the palace will be suggesting that it just might be a better idea given the Sussexes are now effectively parked up in the back yard, to keep a closer eye on proceedings. Whether the royals like it or not, over the next few weeks we are going to be seeing a lot of Harry and Meghan. I'm told they have a raft of public appearances coming up, some with high profile guests in locations and scenarios very much in keeping with the profile of engagements reporters like me would expect to cover with members of the royal family. Perhaps their ambitions stretch beyond that, with new quasi-royal tours closer to home, such as they embarked on in Nigeria and Columbia during their royal exile. All of this comes back to the same point, why are they back and what do they intend to do while they are here? With the Prince and Princess of Wales hardly likely to pick up the phone and ask them straight out, the job of garnering such information will fall to the king, and the last time I checked he appeared to have quite enough on his plate! Such questions may be for another day. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that in this battle for the narrative, the Princess of Wales made a surprise appearance alongside her husband at the launch of his new initiative to preventing suicide through the power of sport. A worthy endeavour, helped of course by bringing a star player off the subs bench. Aside from the drama of the last few weeks, there is much to be positive about. As I have said before, the King and Queen’s autumn tour to Antigua and Barbuda and the Prince and Princess of Wales’ trip to India in November will demonstrate the real star power of the institution on the international stage. In the meantime they can only hope things calm down on the home front.