KING Charles will never let Harry return as a part-time royal - and it will be a "big job" to repair the fractured bond with Prince William, an expert said.
Esteemed royal reporter, Richard Palmer, spoke on The Sun's Royal Exclusive show, and squashed any theories the duke could be welcomed back as a working member of the royal family.
Speaking to The Sun's Royal Editor, Matt Wilkinson, the royal expert believed Harry, 39 and Meghan, 42, might try to "push it", but they would be swiftly denied.
"I just can't see it happening. I just don't think it's on the cards," he said.
The King I think is open to reconciliation but I don't think he's open to the idea of Harry being a part-time working royal
Richard Palmer
"Although I have to say at the time of the Sandringham Summit a senior royal aide who was very close to the now King, was saying that this was entirely possible.
"They were open to discussions but something changed and the Queen, encouraged by Charles and Prince William, essentially said 'no, we can't countenance this, there's no way back, they're either in or they're out'."
The brothers' bitter feud has sparked heartbreak among many experts, who reflect on the once "really, really" close bond the royals shared.
Charles Rae previously spoke on The Royal Exclusive show about how Harry used to be in line to act as Prince William's top advisor.
He claimed the estranged relationship would break Diana's heart.
"They were really, really close. And this is what makes it so sad that they're now so far apart," he said.
"When William becomes King, I always believed Harry would be one of his top advisers.
"I think that's out of the window."
Speaking of His Majesty and the Prince of Wales repairing their broken bond with Harry, the royal expert claimed it would be a "much longer process" for Wills.
"I do think Harry and his father are trying to reconcile," said Mr Butler.
"I think with William it's going to be a much longer process.
"But eventually, maybe, you know that lots of families have disputes and over time they can heal their divisions, but there's a big job to be done yet with William.
The Sun coined the term "Megxit
On January 7 that year, we revealed Meghan and Harry's bombshell plans to move to North America and split from the royal family.
And on January 9, after the Sussexes had confirmed their plans on Instagram without telling Queen Elizabeth II, we used the headline 'Megxit'.
Modelled on Brexit - the term coined after Brits voted to leave the EU in 2016 - Megxit has now made Collins Dictionary's top 10 list of new words.
On January 7, we exclusively told how Prince Harry and Meghan were set to cut ties with the Royal Family and move abroad to start their new life together.
The Sun also revealed how the Sussexes wanted to relocate their office to Canada and drop their HRH titles.
And just a day later, the senior royals announced on Instagram their plan to "step back" from their duties and become financially independent.
The pair said they wanted to "carve out a progressive new role," while still supporting Queen Elizabeth.
Harry and Meghan also said they would split their time between the UK and North America - but they've so far spent the majority of the year in their £11 million Californian home.
Megxit was inspired by the term Brexit - which was Collins' Word of the Year in 2016 following the EU referendum which saw Brits miraculously vote to leave the bloc.
"The King I think is open to reconciliation but I don't think he's open to the idea of Harry being a part-time working royal.
"I think they drew a line in the sand at Sandringham all those years ago where he essentially said you can't be a part-time working royal, you're either in or out."
It comes as another royal expert claimed a "reunion" could be on the cards between Harry and Wills when the duke visits the UK later this year.
The dad-of-two is set to cross the pond to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games.
It would be Harry's first time in Britain since his sister-in-law, Princess Kate announced she is receiving treatment for cancer after surgery in January.
Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams revealed that while a possible reunion could happen soon, the future King "has been through enough".
And, the royal commentator previously dubbed Meghan the obstacle in the way of laying "one of the worst public royal rifts ever" to rest.
He claimed: "Meghan has the say. There's no doubt Harry wishes to convey he is a very devoted family man and will put them above everything else. Just like William.
"If Meghan didn't want to come she could never be forced to.
"It would be extremely unlikely Harry would come over with the kids without Meghan."
In 2018, the Sun told how "simmering tension" began when William questioned the speed of Harry and Meghan's engagement.
The first hints of friction reportedly came after William was introduced to Meghan when she was staying at Kensington Palace.
Once she'd returned home to Canada, William and Harry sat down for a brother-to-brother chat.
He knew Harry was already head-over-heels for her but it has been claimed he advised him to take it slowly.
The younger prince reportedly didn't take too kindly to the advice, with one royal source saying he "went mental".
Then in June 2019 Harry and Meghan officially split off from the charity they shared with William and Kate.
The Royal Foundation will be divided between the Sussexes and Cambridges as the couples focus on their own separate charitable endeavours.
Prince William and Prince Harry first established the Royal Foundation in 2009 before Kate joined two years later shortly after their engagement was announced.
The trio would often appear together at events and the Foundation had huge successes with projects like the Invictus Games for injured veterans and the mental health Heads Together campaign.
The Royal Foundation said the decision was made following the conclusion of a review into its structure - but added both couples will continue to work together in the future.
Harry and Meg were living in close proximity to Kate and Wills within the Kensington Palace estate, but they switched to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor before baby Archie was born.
The move further increased rumours of a fallout.
Harry, 39, also hinted in his ITV documentary "Harry and Meghan, An African Journey" that he and his brother had grown apart.
It came after Prince Philip called Meghan the "D.O.W" after the Duchess of Windsor — the American divorcee who led Edward VIII to abdicate.
And he warned the late Queen to be "cautious" of Harry's then bride-to-be, a royal author claims.
Ingrid Seward revealed in new book My Mother And I that Prince Philip felt it was "uncanny...how much Meghan reminded him of the Duchess of Windsor".
In 2021, Harry and Meghan give their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey where Harry accused his dad of cutting him off financially.
Harry then jetted back to UK to join William in unveiling a statue to their mother Princess Diana in the grounds of Kensington Palace. But sources claimed William didn’t want to attend the memorial amid their ongoing rift.
In 2022, just before their grandmother the Queen died, sources claimed Kate acts as a "peacemaker" between the brothers.
Last year Harry claimed his brother "knocked him to the floor" during an argument about Meghan.
In his book Spare, Harry said William branded Meghan "rude" and "difficult" during a row.
Harry alleged William "grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and … knocked me to the floor".
He said he was left with a visible injury to his back following the argument in 2019 at Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace, where he was living at the time.
In January this year, Harry flew in to be with Charles after the monarch's shock cancer diagnosis.
Harry flew back to the US the following day - without seeing Wills.
