Last week, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle went to Canada. Technically, you can’t describe it as a royal visit—after all, the two sensationally quit the British royal family in 2020 and burned their proverbial London bridge along with it. In March 2021, they gave a tell-all interview to Oprah. In December 2022, they aired a revealing six-part documentary on Netflix. And in January 2023, Prince Harry published his bombshell memoir, Spare. (In it, he alleges Queen Camilla leaked stories against him to the press and that his brother, Prince William, physically assaulted him.)
Yet, their recent Canadian trip felt reminiscent of their official state tours when they were still Windsors. While visiting Vancouver and Whistler to promote the 2025 Invictus Games—the sporting event for wounded veterans founded by Prince Harry in 2014—the couple made several appearances in the span of a few days. They visited the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, a First Nations museum. They went curling with Michael Bublé. And, on their final evening, they attended a dinner at Vancouver Convention Center. (Harry wore a suit, while Meghan wore an olive green Greta Constantine dress.)
They even talked briefly to the press: on February 16, Good Morning America aired an exclusive interview with Prince Harry. In it, he spoke for the first time publicly about visiting his father after his cancer diagnosis. “I love my family,” he said. “The fact that I was able to get on a plane and go and see him and spend any time with him—I’m grateful for that.” The comment led to a series of splashy headlines from the tabloid press. However, throughout the rest of the week, the visit went on without any of the drama the Sussexes have been more recently associated with. The two smiled and chatted throughout their appearances. Prince Harry even made an impassioned speech at the Vancouver dinner event: “When I am with the Invictus community surrounded by so many brave men and women who have served their countries with distinction, I feel humbled and at home,” he said.
The smooth, polished trip came amid a roiling news cycle. On February 16, the Times of London reported that the Duke of Sussex was willing to take on a temporary role within the royal family due to his father’s illness and the Princess of Wales’s recent surgery. “The duke is now understood to have told friends that he would step into a royal role while his father is unwell,” the outlet wrote. They also attributed an anonymous quote to a royal insider: “On all practical levels it makes perfect sense for the family to come together to support the King while he’s sick. Much has been said on both sides in recent years, but that has never diminished the fundamental bond of blood, and there are now pragmatic aspects to consider, with the King and Kate’s wellbeing paramount in this,” they said. “The details of the Clarence House meeting and subsequent conversations are private, but the feeling is that this arrangement could work.” Indeed, Canada certainly showed the two still know how to make successful public appearances for a cause. It’s easy to forget that before all the noise, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were good at their jobs as working royals. (Their 2018 tour of Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji was considered a resounding success.)
Whether or not it involves a return to the United Kingdom, the Sussexes do seem to be starting a new chapter. In February, the Duchess announced a new podcast series. While the exact details are still unknown, it is a positive, tangible project following their highly publicized split with Spotify. (In June 2023, the company and the couple decided to part ways after only producing one season of one show, Archetypes, for which their deal had been a reported 20 million dollars.) The couple also launched a revamped website, sussex.com, earlier this month—arguably a much clearer domain name, and branding, than their previous one of archewell.com. They are also working with Netflix on producing a streaming adaption of the wildly popular romance novel, Meet Me at the Lake.
Are we entering the era of Sussex 2.0? It certainly seems so. While the Sussexes were previously most associated with sensational headlines and drama, it feels like the couple is finally entering calmer, less contentious waters. Who knows—maybe the waters are even smooth enough to facilitate a journey back to the United Kingdom.
