PRINCE Harry has arrived back in Britain ahead of his final official engagements as a senior royal.
The Duke of Sussex, 35, pictured at Edinburgh’s Waverley Station wearing a baseball cap and jeans, will attend a travel conference promoting eco-friendly holidays in the Scottish capital tomorrow.
Harry and wife Meghan will attend a series of events which will be their first engagements since they announced their intention to quit the Palace and move to Canada.
Next week, the couple attend the Endeavour Fund Awards on March 5 in London while Prince William and Kate Middleton are in Ireland.
And there are fears within the royals that Harry and Meghan will steal the spotlight from the Cambridges.
A senior source told The Sun Online: “While William fully respects Harry’s right to come back whenever he wants – indeed he is glad that he is returning, however briefly – he wishes that it wasn’t at the same time as his Irish trip because he knows what will happen is that the spotlight as far as papers and TV are concerned will be fully on Harry and Meghan.
“He recognises that for the media this will be ‘the big story’.
“It’s not that he and Kate would be jealous of all that coverage – they’re simply not like that – but their tour of Ireland is an important one, and he would have hoped it would get due media prominence.”
Kate and William’s trip to Ireland will be the first tour carried out by any member of the Royal Family after Brexit.
And the source added: “This sort of diary error would simply not have happened in the days before Harry decided to bale out of royal life.
“That’s why members of the royal family have private secretaries – and a grid system, similar to the Government’s method – to ensure that coverage of important events doesn’t clash.
“It’s a nightmare as far as staff are concerned because there is no longer any control over Harry – he has nobody now working for him who has proper experience of the methods and protocol of the court system.
“Presumably he is now relying on some flash PR person more used to the American entertainment world, more Hollywood than Windsor, who is not going to respect the views of the rest of the royal family.”
WHIRLWIND RETURN
The Sussexes will conduct a string of six engagements over 11 days including Harry, 35, meeting with Jon Bon Jovi to promote the Invictus Games.
Although some unintentional crossovers have occurred in the past, royal author Katie Nicholl revealed clashes were typically avoided by courtiers to prevent “competition” between the Sussexes and Cambridges.
She said: “I think that’s why couriers can avoid diary clashes they will, because they’ll be keen to avoid any sense of competition between the couples.”
On Monday, Kensington Palace announced details of the trip to Ireland, saying: “Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit Ireland from Tuesday 3rd March to Thursday 5th March 2020.
“This visit is at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.”
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