Harry and Meghan Dominate Seven British Newspaper Front Pages While King Charles Is Nowhere to Be Seen

Prince Harry and Meghan Sussex spent Thursday visiting charities in Nottingham, meeting young people and greeting supporters. By Friday morning, seven British newspapers had featured them on their front pages. Not bad for two people the royal press keeps reminding us are no longer working royals.

The Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Express, Metro and even the Daily Star all found space for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. And surprisingly, much of the coverage was positive.

The Daily Telegraph featured the couple holding hands beneath Meghan’s words, “It’s wonderful to be back.” The Daily Mirror declared it a “Right royal welcome”, while Metro dedicated a substantial portion of its front page to Meghan’s smiling face.

Even the Daily Mail joined in, prominently featuring Bryony Gordon’s affectionate column, “My brave friend Meghan is back – and how! It was so dull without her…”

I nearly had to check which newspaper I was looking at. But the front pages become even more interesting when you consider what King Charles was doing on the very same day.

Even GB News Noticed the Change in Tone

During an appearance on GB News, comedian and Prince Harry’s friend Archie Manners acknowledged the unusually favourable newspaper coverage.

Manners specifically highlighted the Daily Mail’s decision to feature Gordon’s supportive column, noting the newspaper’s history of litigation involving Harry. He also revealed that he had spoken with the Duke following the Nottingham visits.

According to Manners, their conversation largely concerned how much Harry had enjoyed meeting people and supporting the charities. Manners observed: ‘It does seem to be a good day for them from a press perspective. And it certainly was.

"It does seem to be a good day for them from a press perspective." Prince Harry’s friend Archie Manners reacts to the positive front pages of the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes joint appearance today. https://t.co/8QALGmw6Rr

— GB News (@GBNEWS) October 15, 2026

The Times and Telegraph even selected remarkably similar photographs of Harry and Meghan holding hands. With so many photographs available from Nottingham, you’d think the newspapers might have managed a little more variety.

Nevertheless, the pictures were lovely. Meghan was smiling, Harry was waving, and supporters were offering flowers. The couple visited the Community Recording Studio, Himmah Hub and Epic Partners, organisations supporting young people, community development and families experiencing food insecurity. The Nottingham visit also brought Meghan back into contact with women connected to the Hubb Community Kitchen and the Together: Our Community Cookbook project, which Meghan supported in 2018.

These weren’t official royal engagements. Harry and Meghan were visiting charities independently, without receiving taxpayer funding to perform royal duties. Yet the newspapers treated their visits as major royal news. Which raises an interesting question: If Harry and Meghan can carry out charitable work independently while generating this level of public and media interest, what exactly are taxpayers paying for when it comes to the so-called working royals?

Ground News Figures Reveal Just How Much Coverage Harry and Meghan Generate

The front pages are impressive enough, but the wider figures are even more revealing. According to Ground News, a platform that aggregates reporting from different publications, 2,580 news stories were associated with Prince Harry over the previous three months. Meghan appeared in 2,142.

Meanwhile, Prince William appeared in 1,237 stories, King Charles in 1,006 and Kate Middleton in just 596.

Harry attracted approximately 109% more coverage than William, while Meghan attracted approximately 259% more than Kate. Even the reigning monarch generated substantially fewer stories than his younger son.

And here’s another interesting detail. Ground News classified 35% of Harry and Meghan’s coverage as coming from right-leaning publications, with 44% from centre-rated outlets and 21% from left-leaning outlets. These classifications describe the publications’ political leanings, not whether their individual stories were positive or negative.

The Daily Express alone accounted for 630 recent stories about Harry and 584 about Meghan. For a couple who were classified as “private citizens” by King Charles and are supposedly fading into irrelevance, the British press certainly spends an extraordinary amount of time discussing them.

The British Press Cannot Seem to Stop Talking About Harry and Meghan

While Harry and Meghan greeted supporters in Nottingham, King Charles and Queen Camilla attended the ceremonial opening of the Welsh Parliament. Yet neither appeared prominently on any of the seven British newspaper front pages we examined. Instead, the headlines belonged to the Sussexes, who were visiting charities independently.

And apparently, the newspapers needed to remind everyone of that distinction. Metro described their appearance as a “(not) royal walkabout”, the Daily Mail called it a “non-royal visit”, and the Daily Mirror placed quotation marks around the word “duty”.

We understand that Harry and Meghan stopped undertaking official royal duties in 2020. But Harry was born into the public spectacle we call the modern monarchy. He remains a prince; his father is the king, Meghan is the Duchess of Sussex and was already a public figure before marrying into the royal family, and their children are Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. None of that changed when they stopped working for the institution.

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Meanwhile, some online critics claimed nobody turned up to see them, while others suggested the crowds had been paid. Which is it supposed to be? An invisible crowd or a paid one? The photographs and videos clearly show supporters greeting the couple, and there is no evidence presented here that anyone was paid to attend.

The hostility from those determined to cling to the narrative that Harry and Meghan are universally disliked deserves closer examination. How much of that reaction is influenced by prejudice, racism or sexism? It’s particularly interesting to see Meghan warmly embraced by people of different ages and backgrounds when so much of the commentary surrounding her has focused on whether the British public accepts her.

The scenes reminded me of the affection Princess Diana received from ordinary people, a popularity that biographers and royal commentators have long described as a source of tension within the royal household.

And frankly, why should a charitable visit be judged by crowd numbers anyway? What fascinates me is the extraordinary attention Harry and Meghan continue to generate. The Daily Mail’s lead story attracted more than 11,000 comments, while The Telegraph reportedly received over 4,000. That’s before counting YouTube, Instagram and X. I’d love to see the combined readership figures.

The British press regularly questions the Sussexes’ relevance while publishing endless stories about them. There’s an obvious commercial incentive to keep that conversation going, but the contradiction is almost comical.

Harry and Meghan may no longer work for the monarchy, but the newspapers certainly haven’t stopped treating them as major royal news. Perhaps it’s time they stopped pretending otherwise.