The Duchess of Sussex was crushed to be cancelling her much-hyped gala in Los Angeles earlier this month.
Having planned meticulously the perfect guest list, speakers and catering, it was a devastating blow for Meghan to be rain-checking the event, due to take place on the very day of the Trooping the Colour parade in London, honouring King Charles’ birthday, because of the riots taking place across the city.
But for her husband, the Duke of Sussex, it was a moment of reckoning. Does Prince Harry regret leaving London for L.A?
Watching footage of the unrest – torched cars, looting and people arrested for trying to start fires – friends say father-of-two Prince Harry, 40, wasn’t the only dad in the area thinking of leaving the disaster-stricken city.
And for Harry, the contrast would have been stark as he watched his family back home in London smiling in front of crowds of happy well-wishers. So does Prince Harry regret his choice to quit the royal family?
“Harry’s starting to think they’ve made a huge mistake moving to California,” a Sussex insider tells New Idea. “Seeing the rest of the royals looking so happy, juxtaposed to what was going on a short drive away from his home, with the incessant whoop of choppers flying over him, it’s easy to see why he’s having regrets.
“He fought so hard for security in the UK, albeit to no avail, and now he’s wondering if he overreacted. LA’s curfews and clashes seem far more serious, and this time he not only has a wife but two kids to keep safe.”
While the Sussexes’ Montecito location is far from the riot’s hot zones, Meghan having to cancel her event was a real wake-up call for Harry.
“There was no way he was willing to put her at risk when the police themselves seemed so helpless,” adds the insider.
“Unfortunately, it’s caused some problems between him and Meghan. She probably would have gone ahead with that event if Harry hadn’t put his foot down.
“Even more so, because of his military background, he’s a lot more paranoid about their security than Meghan. Harry wants her to be able to get on with her work and being a mum without worrying about her safety, but it’s a different world now, and it’s rumoured he’s starting to get frustrated with her approach.”
Indeed, it seems Meghan, 43, is on a very different page from her husband of seven years when it comes to keeping the identities of their kids – Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, four – under wraps.
Last week, she shared a video montage of precious personal moments of Harry with their kids in order to mark Father’s Day in the US.
“He can’t believe the post went up on the most violent of weekends in recent history – and one that needed the US Marines to intervene – to show Archie and Lili’s faces online for the first time,” another insider tells New Idea exclusively.
“It was a Father’s Day ‘surprise’ but he’s stunned by the timing. He knows Meghan feels she has to prove a point, but her timing couldn’t be worse. Some days, the only way he can see to keep his family safe is to get away from LA.”
