The Harry and Meghan return to Britain has generated another avalanche of headlines, opinions and criticism. Six years after stepping back from Royal duties and moving to North America, Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex are returning to the UK for an extended period with their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
The couple will remain non working members of the Royal Family and are expected to live in a private home outside London, while retaining their home in California. Their children are also expected to attend school in Britain.
For King Charles III, the move offers something far more important than another chapter in the Royal soap opera. It gives him an opportunity to spend more time with his son and grandchildren and perhaps, eventually, to see some healing within a deeply divided family.
The King is reported to welcome the opportunity to see more of Harry, Meghan and their children privately. Relations between Harry and his father have shown signs of improvement, although the relationship between Harry and Prince William appears to remain badly strained.
For Christians watching from the sidelines, perhaps there is another question worth asking. What would Jesus have us do?
Photo: Mark Jones / Flickr, CC BY 2.0
Harry and Meghan return and the story of the prodigal son
It is difficult to hear about a son returning home after years of family division without thinking of one of Jesus’ best known parables.
In Luke 15, Jesus tells the story of a younger son who asks his father for his inheritance, leaves home and eventually loses everything. When he finally comes to his senses, he decides to return.
The extraordinary part of the story is the father’s response. He does not lock the gates. He does not issue a statement reminding everyone of everything his son has done wrong. He does not demand that the younger man first repair his reputation.
He sees his son while he is still a long way off and runs to meet him. Could King Charles now have an opportunity to demonstrate something of that same father heart?
Of course, no human father can perfectly represent our Heavenly Father. Nor do we know everything that has happened behind palace walls. Yet Charles’ reported willingness to see more of his son and grandchildren should surely be welcomed by Christians rather than viewed cynically. Reconciliation has to start somewhere.
But are Harry and Meghan really prodigals?
There is an obvious danger in pushing the Biblical comparison too far. Harry may be coming home geographically, but that does not necessarily make him the Prodigal Son.
The son in Jesus’ parable did more than return to the place where he grew up. He recognised that he had done wrong. “I have sinned against Heaven and in your sight,” he tells his father in Luke 15:21. That is repentance.
In my article, 7 steps to move from backslidden believer to godly achiever, I describe repentance as the first step in restoring our relationship with God. The wonderful message of the Gospel is that when we genuinely turn back to our Heavenly Father, He is ready to receive us. So we should be careful about declaring Harry and Meghan to be modern day prodigals.
There has been no public suggestion that they are returning to Britain because they believe they were wrong to leave Royal life. They are not returning as working Royals.
And Harry has certainly made serious allegations about his family since leaving Britain. The couple’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, their Netflix documentary and Harry’s memoir Spare took deeply personal Royal Family grievances into the world’s media.
Some of those grievances may have been entirely genuine. We should not pretend to know what happened privately or dismiss someone’s hurt simply because they are famous. But there is also a Biblical principle about how we handle conflict.
In our previous UK Christian article, Harry and Meghan on Netflix, we asked whether broadcasting family grievances to millions of people could really help bring reconciliation. Years later, that question remains.
What about Prince William?
There is another character in the parable who is sometimes forgotten. The elder brother is not pleased when the prodigal comes home. While his father celebrates restoration, he stands outside, angry that someone who caused so much pain should be welcomed back so generously.
It would be unfair to simply cast Prince William in that role. We do not know everything Harry’s brother has experienced and we certainly do not know what is in his heart. William may have good reasons for being cautious. Forgiveness does not mean abandoning wisdom and reconciliation does not mean that broken trust is instantly restored. Nevertheless, reports continue to describe the brothers as estranged. If that remains the case, the elder brother in Jesus’ parable presents a challenge.
There comes a point when being right about somebody else’s failures can become its own prison. The father tells his older son that everything he has is already his, yet he cannot enjoy the celebration because he is consumed by what his brother does not deserve. Grace, by definition, is not deserved. Perhaps that is a message not only for William but for all of us.
And what about Meghan’s father?
There is another uncomfortable aspect of this story. If we call on King Charles to keep the door open to his son, surely the same Christian principle must apply to Meghan and her father, Thomas Markle. Their relationship has been estranged since around the time of the Royal wedding in 2018. Thomas has never met Prince Harry face to face and has never met his grandchildren Archie and Lilibet.
There are two sides to this painful story. Thomas has repeatedly spoken publicly about his daughter and Meghan has described feeling betrayed by his dealings with the media. More recently, when Thomas became seriously ill, Meghan’s representatives confirmed that she attempted to make contact with him.
That makes this far more complicated than simply assigning blame. Yet it remains profoundly sad that a father and daughter have lost so many years together and that a grandfather has never met his grandchildren.
Back in 2021, following the Oprah interview, UK Christian asked whether things might have been different if the Biblical command to “Honour your father and your mother” had been given greater consideration.
In Meghan and Harry interview: if only they had followed this simple rule, we concluded: “This can only be healed through forgiveness.” Five years later, that still seems worth saying. And it applies to everybody.
Photo: Northern Ireland Office / Flickr, CC BY 2.0
Forgiveness does not mean pretending nothing happened
Christian forgiveness is sometimes misunderstood as simply forgetting the past and carrying on as though nothing happened. The Bible gives us something deeper. The father forgives the prodigal, but the son first comes to himself. He acknowledges his sin and returns in humility.
Forgiveness can be offered freely, but reconciliation requires truth. Trust that has been shattered may take time to rebuild. That could apply to Charles and Harry, Harry and William, Meghan and Thomas or countless ordinary families across Britain.
It is also worth remembering that Jesus did not tell the Parable of the Prodigal Son so that we could identify everybody else’s failures. He told it to reveal the heart of God. The Father watches for those who are far away. He welcomes those who return. He restores rather than humiliates and He challenges those who consider themselves faithful not to become hard hearted towards those who have wandered.
Harry and Meghan return – Perhaps Britain needs a little less judgement
Harry and Meghan’s popularity may have fallen dramatically, and there will be plenty of commentators ready to remind us why.
Christians do not have to approve of everything the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have said or done. Neither do we have to take sides against the Royal Family. We can choose a different response. We can pray.
Pray that King Charles will have wisdom and grace as a father. Pray that Harry will value the opportunity to rebuild his relationship with him. Pray that William and Harry might one day rediscover what they have in common as brothers. And pray for Meghan and her father too.
Most of all, perhaps the Harry and Meghan return should cause us to look at our own families. Is there someone we have written off? Someone whose telephone call we would rather not answer? Someone whose failures we can recite more readily than our own?
Or perhaps we are the prodigal. Perhaps we are the one who needs to swallow our pride, admit where we have gone wrong and come home. Jesus’ parable gives us extraordinary hope. The road home remains open. And the Father is still watching for prodigals in the distance.
Wordsmith, overcomer and exhorter. Al has a degree in Journalism and Media Studies and years of communications experience in Africa, the UK, Israel and USA. He left South Africa in 2001 and worked for GOD TV in England for 18 years. He now heads up Countdown Creative, a content creation business in Exeter. Al is the author of three biographies. Blogs he writes for include GODTV.com; International Christian and UK and US Christian.