RICHARD EDEN: Is Trump the reason the Sussexes want to reconcile with royals?

Looking into his camera phone, the Duke of Sussex declared that he and his wife were on a “freedom flight” as they travelled to Los Angeles having stepped down as working members of the royal family.

The footage was included in Netflix’s 2022 docu-series Harry & Meghan.

But, just two years later, could the couple soon be about to board another “freedom flight” – this time as they flee the US?

The prospect has reared its head in light of Donald Trump’s possible return to the White House, with a royal source suggesting the Sussexes are now making increasingly “desperate” efforts to extend olive branches across the Atlantic.

During a visit to the Trump International Golf Links in Scotland earlier this week, the former president’s son Eric called the duke and duchess “spoiled apples” and echoed his father’s claims that Harry could be deported if the Republicans win.

“You can happily have those two,” he added.

“We might not want them any more; it feels like they’re on an island of their own.’ Donald Trump has previously suggested that Harry – who has lived in the US since 2020 – would not get “special privileges” and indeed may be deported if he is found to have falsified information on his visa form.

In the prince’s memoir, Spare, he revealed he previously took drugs including cocaine, cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms – which under US law would be grounds for a visa application to be rejected.

And there is previous bad blood between the Trumps and Meghan.

When she was still an actress, Meghan described Trump Snr as “divisive” and a “misogynist”.

While living in Toronto during the filming of legal drama Suits, in which she starred, she declared that she might stay in Canada rather than return to her American homeland with him as president.

Meanwhile in the UK, Palace officials clam up as soon as the California-based couple are mentioned.

But someone who worked for the royals while the Sussexes were still part of The Firm told me: “It seems quite clear that they are desperate to start healing the rift.”

As evidence, the source points to the string of stories that have recently appeared in People magazine, a favoured outlet of the Sussexes.

They included an article about Harry’s despair that his father was not accepting his phone calls and another claiming that his rift with Prince William was not “irreparable”.

These comments follow an interview Harry gave earlier this year suggesting the king’s cancer diagnosis could help them put their differences aside.

After flying to London to see his father, Harry told the Press: “Throughout all these families I see it on a day-to-day basis, the strength of the family unit coming together. I think any illness, any sickness brings families together.”

Harry has, of course, claimed that Britain is too dangerous a destination for his family since his automatic taxpayer-funded security was withdrawn after he stepped back as a working royal and moved to the US.

He apparently remains keen to appeal against the High Court’s ruling on the matter.

But for all their pleas for free protection, the truth is that the Sussexes have made a fortune in the US – almost entirely off the back of their royal pedigree.

Netflix, Spotify and the publisher of Harry’s best-selling memoir would never have dreamed of forking out millions had the couple not exploited their connections.

But that tap has now been turned off, as the King’s refusal to take Harry’s calls shows.

So, with their lavish lifestyle and income streams increasingly uncertain, it might not be surprising if the Sussexes were looking to the future with some trepidation.

With the possibility of a hostile new president in his adopted homeland, Harry really may need to board that “freedom flight” back home.