Boris Johnson Wants Harry and Meghan to Come Back Now That Britain Has Realised What It Lost

There is something almost comical about Boris Johnson suddenly deciding that Prince Harry and Meghan should come home now that, in his view, all is forgiven. Forgiven by whom, exactly? The institution that failed to protect them. The press that hounded them. The political and royal establishment treated their departure like betrayal while doing little to address the conditions that drove them out.

Now, after years of briefings, smears and public punishment, Johnson has popped up in the Daily Mail – the same media group Harry is currently suing – to announce that the Sussexes should return to Britain with their heads held high, as though the country that helped make their lives intolerable is now benevolently offering them a second chance. It is a remarkable display of entitlement, even by British establishment standards.

Boris Exposes More Than He Intended

Johnson’s latest column is dressed up as warmth, nostalgia and belated appreciation, but it gives away far more than he likely intended. He recounts his now-famous attempt in early 2020 to give Harry what he described as a “manly pep talk” to stop him from leaving. That anecdote was ridiculous enough when it surfaced in his memoir. It sounds no wiser now.

“I noticed how much zing they seemed to add, how people’s eyes lit up when they came into the room. I had vaguely concluded that Harry and Meghan were a national asset, and I decided to see if I could talk him out of leaving. Above all, get stuck back into those conspicuously thinned-out royal ranks and champion some things that really matter – like educational equality and injured veterans. You once did a great job, when you were allowed to. You can do it again. Come back, Harry and Meghan – all is forgiven!

Boris Johnson, Daily Mail

The British Establishment Failed Them When It Mattered

When Harry and Meghan were in Britain, the royal family did not protect them, and the political class certainly did not. The media campaign against Meghan was not subtle. It was constant, racialised and grotesque. The racist term ‘Megxit’ was coined by the media to frame the story, assigning blame to Meghan for a joint decision and packaging it in a catchy tabloid label that was always designed to dehumanise her.

Johnson now praises Meghan’s success in America and seems baffled that she can sell jam at those prices. But let’s be real, that shock says more about the years of media smears against her than anything else. They spent years trying to tear her down, and now he’s surprised she succeeded anyway.

And if we’re being honest, where was this energy when she was being dragged daily in the British press? The same press he now writes for, the same press Harry is suing. Spare us the sudden admiration. Where was it when women were calling out the racist and colonial undertones in how Meghan was covered? It wasn’t there.

He was silent when it mattered. Like much of the British establishment, he discovered his appreciation only once the Sussexes had taken their value elsewhere.

Who the System Protects Tells the Story

What Johnson is really describing is not forgiveness but recruitment. Britain is in decline, the monarchy looks increasingly thinned out, and suddenly, Harry and Meghan are being talked about not as traitors but as assets again. Do not confuse this plea as sentiment. That is a desperate need.

Even Johnson more or less says so. He praises their star power, their impact, their appeal, and their ability to cheer up the country in difficult times. In other words, the same people who were treated as expendable when they asked for safety and dignity are now being cast as potential saviours of a system that has failed to modernise itself.

The old Metro headline still says everything. They’re out. He’s in. Harry and Meghan were pushed to the margins while Prince Andrew remained protected despite his links to Jeffrey Epstein. That contrast was never really about duty or morality. It was about who the institution was willing to sacrifice and who it was determined to shield.

Harry and Meghan Saw It Coming First

Johnson’s column lands like an accidental confession. It reveals that pressure was placed on Harry to stay, recognises that his departure was viewed as a national loss, and concedes, however clumsily, that Meghan’s influence is both real and commercially powerful. And it admits that Britain now sees some value in the couple that it could not be bothered to defend when they were still there.

Harry and Meghan chose freedom over containment, and time has largely vindicated that decision. They recognised the institution for what it was before many others did, grasped that a system built on managing appearances cannot sustain a healthy life, and chose to leave before the decline became impossible to ignore.

Now the same establishment that failed them wants them back to prop up the national mood, refresh the brand and fill the gaps in a visibly diminished monarchy. That may suit Boris Johnson’s fantasy of national renewal. It does not answer the central question.

Why would they return to the very people who made leaving necessary?

The Answer is Still No

Johnson can call it forgiveness. The Palace can call it reconciliation. The press can call it a thaw. But unless there is accountability, apology and a genuine reckoning with what was done to Harry and Meghan, all of this sounds like little more than panic dressed up as magnanimity.

Britain had them, but they failed to protect them. They allowed the abuse to continue, then mocked them for refusing to endure it forever.

Now the same voices want them back because the institution is weaker, the country is shakier, and the star power they once dismissed looks useful again.

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