Prince Harry: royal misfit making unlikely UK return

He and wife Meghan Markle -- who together swapped Britain for California six years ago -- return still estranged from Harry's heir-to-the-throne brother William and wife Princess Catherine.

Whether their ties can be repaired -- as appears to have occurred with Harry and his cancer-battling father, King Charles III -- was just one of many questions swirling as their self-imposed United States exile ends.

"I think one of the motivating factors for this return ... is reconciliation with the king and with the wider family," royal historian Ed Owens told AFP.  

"If those wounds are not healed it can have a really detrimental impact, not only on the people concerned but also on the reputation of the institution."

- 'Lack of trust' -

The feud has tarnished the family's image. 

The monarchy has faced allegations of racism and bullying, among others, potentially alienating a younger, more diverse generation of Britons.

The image of Harry and mixed-raced Meghan are highly divisive in Britain. According to polls, they attract more negative opinions than any other royals, barring his scandal-plagued uncle, ex-prince Andrew. 

"They've got to come to terms with the lack of trust in Britain," royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told AFP. "They've said some very unkind things about Britain, and also about the monarchy."

Harry was at one time among Britain's most popular royals -- a military and charity trailblazer with the fiery red hair and rebellious streak.

But the boyhood trauma of losing his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, has dogged much of his life.

The prince told The Telegraph in 2017 that "shutting down all of my emotions for the last 20 years has had a quite serious effect on not only my personal life but my work as well."

Diana's death in Paris, caused by her intoxicated driver who broke speed limits while being chased by paparazzi, also instilled in him a life-long hostility towards the press. 

In recent years, Harry has sued three different UK newspapers, becoming the first senior royal in over a century to enter the witness box as he won settlements from two.

- 'Traumatised' -

Henry Charles Albert David was born third in line to the throne, on September 15, 1984. 

The 1997 image of the 12-year-old prince walking stony-faced and head bowed behind his mother's coffin earned enduring global sympathy. 

He attended the elite boarding school Eton, later revealing his hurt over William allegedly ignoring him while also there. 

Harry then spent a sabbatical year in Australia and Africa, caring for orphans in Lesotho, where he founded a charity in Diana's memory.

Youthful scandals -- dressing as a Nazi for a fancy dress bash, being pictured partying naked in Las Vegas -- fed endless tabloid coverage. 

"He had a very difficult childhood," trauma expert Gabor Mate told the BBC this week. 

"He was traumatised," he added, noting "the lack of emotional closeness in the family".

The tall, athletic rugby and polo fan embarked on a decade-long military career that included two Afghanistan deployments, one as a helicopter pilot. He resigned in 2015.

The previous year, Harry founded the international Invictus Games for wounded soldiers, which still holds annual events.  

After his 2018 fairytale Windsor Castle wedding -- watched around the world -- he and Meghan were touted as future monarchy rejuvenators, branded the "fab four" alongside William and Kate.

The couple's son, Archie, was born a year later.

- 'Arch-nemesis' William -

But by early 2020, growing tensions surfaced, with the pair quitting the UK and as working royals. They were allowed to keep their duke and duchess of Sussex titles, but lost other monarchy privileges.

Harry waged a years-long, ultimately unsuccessful legal battle with the government to reinstate his publicly funded security.

The prince's six years in America were marked by his apparent eagerness to settle scores -- in a tell-all documentary, TV interviews and explosive memoir -- in a public fashion previously unseen by typically tight-lipped British royals.

The unprecedented access the couple granted -- in multimillion dollar deals with Netflix and Spotify, among others -- also prompted criticism of monetising their monarchy links.

Harry's 2023 autobiography, "Spare", lifted the veil on his royal rifts, describing William as his "arch-nemesis" and alleging he physically attacked him in a blazing 2019 row about Meghan.

The memoir also detailed everything from teenage drug use and losing his virginity in a field to his strained adult relationship with Charles. He and William pleaded with him not to marry his long-term mistress and now queen, Camilla, Harry revealed.

His daughter Lilibet was born in the US in 2021.

"He misses his family... but also his friends, his country of birth," Owens explained.

"Whilst America has offered them a more peaceful retreat ... they've struggled to reinvent themselves in a dynamic way." 

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