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TL;DR: 

  • Some commentators predict Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will stay out of the public eye in the wake of Spare’s Jan. 10 release.
  • “There isn’t really much else to say,” Omid Scobie, author and royal expert, said.
  • Prince Harry said he wants the royal family to apologize to Meghan Markle in a Jan. 13 interview. 
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, who some commentators expect to make a 'shift' after 'Spare', pose for cameras at the Ripple of Hope Gala
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry | Mike Coppola/Getty Images for 2022 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Gala

Spare is out but commentators don’t expect Prince Harry to keep talking about his fractured relationship with his family. Ahead, why some commentators think he and Meghan Markle will stay quiet on family drama in the coming months. 

Harry and Meghan have been making headlines since December 2022 with Netflix doc and ‘Spare’

It’s been a busy time for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The pair, who moved to California in 2020 after stepping back from their roles as senior royals, had a schedule filled with heavy-hitting events ahead of the holiday season and into the new year. 

First came the teaser trailers for their Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan. Then a flurry of headlines and claims when the program dropped on Dec. 8. A week later came more accusations in the final three episodes comprising Volume II. 

Following a series of promotional interviews and leaked excerpts, Harry’s long-awaited memoir, Spare, dropped on Jan. 10. Needless to say, Harry and Meghan have been in the spotlight recently.  

Commentators predict Harry and Meghan will ‘fade off in the background’ after ‘Spare’ for at least part of 2023

Now, per commentators, is the time for the pair to take a step back. Russell Myers, co-host of the Pod Save The King podcast, predicts Harry and Meghan will “fade off into the background. At least, for now. 

If they “have got any sense,” he said on the podcast, they’ll have “a period of reflection” until after King Charles III’s coronation (via Express). Harry’s father is set to have his official coronation on May 6 since ascending the throne in September 2022 when Queen Elizabeth II died

Myers went on to reference remarks made by Finding Freedom author and royal expert Omid Scobie on BBC Radio 4’s Today

“They have got to be careful in the months ahead, they should move on to their work in the US,” Scobie said of Harry and Meghan (via Express).

“I think we’re going to see, for the rest of this year, a couple retreating from a lot of what we’ve seen over the last few months,” he explained. “They’ve both shared their sides of the story. Harry more in many, many ways, in more ways than we could have ever imagined.”

“There isn’t really much else to say and so I think we will see a shift in the months ahead,” Scobie continued. “That said, when it comes to talking about reconciliation, that is very difficult after the amount that he has shared in this book.”

Prince Harry said he wants the royal family to apologize to Meghan Markle in an interview after ‘Spare’ hit shelves

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who some commentators will 'shift' in the wake of 'Spare' being released on Jan. 10, look on wearing black
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Chris Jackson/Getty Images

So what’s next for Harry and his estranged family members? Some commentators have called for peacemaking, while others feel too much damage has been done. If it were up to Harry, Meghan would get an apology.

“You know what you did, and I now know why you did it,” he told The Telegraph just hours before Spare’s release in an interview published on Jan. 13. “And you’ve been caught out, so just come clean.” 

The 38-year-old didn’t expand on what exactly he wants the royal family to apologize to Meghan for. However, he previously claimed there’d been stereotyping of Meghan within the family and negative stories about her “leaked” to the British media. 

He went on to say he’d tried “to explain to them how some of their decisions and some of the things they were doing — or not doing — was going to reflect on them. Badly. Especially across the global stage, especially across the Commonwealth, with relation to my now wife.”

Harry shared that his attempts were unsuccessful, noting that he “wasn’t one or two people that I was trying to get through to. It was a mindset. It was a culture, within a bubble within a bubble, that while I was there was unbreakable.”