Prince Harry's Friend Group Is Reportedly Shrinking But He Refuses To Cave To William

Six years after spectacularly leaving the royal family and relocating to America, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are making another big change. The celebrity couple and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, are officially moving back to England — but this doesn't mean that they're returning to work as active royals. Such a massive life change has left a lot up in the air for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Royalists are wondering how the public will react to their return, while they will also have to adjust to a new social life with different friends. Apparently, Harry will be coming back to an England with fewer pals than he had when he left. 

Insider sources dished to Hello! magazine that the royal defector is no longer close to his cousins, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, with whom he hasn't even spoken in quite some time. In fact, Harry has "very few friends left from before." They elaborated, "Harry and Meghan are not so close to Beatrice and Eugenie anymore." Likewise, despite Eugenie having a villa in Portugal, she didn't spend any time with Harry when he and his family were there this summer. As such, this will leave the Sussexes in a tough position when they come back to the U.K.

As the source declared, "They're going to have to make some serious social inroads and gatherings to get back in the fold." Considering Harry's ongoing feud with his older brother, Prince William, which shows no signs of being fixed, it's unclear if they even want to mend these relationships.

Ahead of the announcement of their move, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visited the U.K. with their kids for the first time in four year. Proud Grandpa King Charles III finally got to see Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet again. Naturally, fans were curious about how their big reunion went, with many hoping they might finally reconcile. Although Prince Harry's U.K. trip didn't get off to a rosy start, it seemed to go relatively well overall. Notably, in 2025, the Duke of Sussex openly acknowledged to the BBC, "I would love reconciliation with my family," reasoning, "There's no point continuing to fight any more, life is precious." And yet, apparently, that doesn't include Prince William, with whom he remains stubbornly at odds. As a source clarified to the Daily Mail, the Prince of Wales has "no desire whatsoever to reconcile with his brother as it stands." 

They've been fighting for years for a variety of reasons, including the duke's challenge to the ruling about his security protection detail while he, Meghan, and the kids are in the U.K., after Harry left the royal family. He lost the case in court, but still confirmed being open to reconciling regardless. And yet, the bestselling author also confessed, "I can't see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the U.K. at this point." Clearly, Harry has changed his mind since. We'll just have to wait and see how it all works out once the Sussexes move back later this month.