Prince Harry’s attempt to make a big splash marking his return to the United Kingdom has backfired spectacularly, two veteran royal correspondents say.
The Daily Beast’s Tom Sykes and the “godfather of royal reporting,” Rob Jobson, said the Duke of Sussex, 42, put on a “nouveau royal” display at the inaugural Invictus Spirit Awards, hosted by controversial comedian James Corden in Greenwich, London, this month.
The ceremony, which marked Harry’s return to British soil after his contentious departure in 2020, was overshadowed just days later by his brother Prince William and sister-in-law Princess Kate, who stepped out with Tom Cruise for the premiere of Digger in London.
Just days after Corden opened the Invictus Spirit Awards with a quip about Mounjaro, a diabetes drug often used for weight loss, the Prince and Princess of Wales walked the red carpet at Leicester Square Gardens alongside a Hollywood star.
“Who does Harry get? He gets James Corden, who, OK, you may love him, or you may hate him, but you know, he’s hardly a massive, massive star,” Sykes said on The Royalist podcast, noting the comedian got banned from a New York restaurant in 2022 following accusations of abusive behavior toward staff.
“And then you have Catherine and William just showing up with Tom Cruise, and it’s just like, you can’t compete with these two, can you?” he continued. “‘They’ve got Tom Cruise just dropping in, going, ‘They’re great, I love them.’”
Jobson said Harry was in a touchy mood that evening, going around hugging journalists and guests.
“So there’s a sense of desperation a little bit about Harry at the moment,” he said. “I think he wants to be loved and realizes that, actually, in the last six years he’s done a lot of damage that he may or may not have realized that had happened.”
“He always thought that he could just stroll back in and that everyone still loves him,” he continued. “Well, no, mate, it doesn’t quite work like that. So I think that that was quite a bit sad actually.”
Sykes speculated that Harry has “mistaken press attention for public affection.”
“I think that’s true,” Jobson responded. “You can’t just click your fingers and think, ‘Well, I’m back,’ you know? It’s ridiculous because the whole landscape has changed.”
Archewell, the philanthropic organization founded by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Harry and Meghan made a bombshell return to the U.K. last month, enrolling their children, Archie and Lilibet, in British schools and preparing their residence after years of shunning royal life.
Sykes previously reported that the Sussexes were “excited” to return to Britain—never mind their Oprah interview, Spare revelations, and other similar denunciations of the royal family over the years.
Sykes told Jobson, “It was interesting, the sort of arrogance, I think, that Harry and Megan brought with this assumption that, you know, as you say, they could breeze back in.”
Want more royal gossip, scoops and scandal? Follow all Tom Sykes’ reporting at The Royalist on Substack or listen to The Royalist podcast on YouTube.
