Prince Harry: Insider reveals plan to bring royal home as former advisors prepare to ‘rehabilitate’ image

Prince Harry has turned to trusted former aides in Britain for advice on a partial return from US exile.

Sources said he was consulting advisers from his old life as a working royal rather than America-based image experts as part of a strategy to “rehabilitate” and spend more time in the UK.

The sources said friends hoped the move was the first phase of an attempt to repair his relationship with his father and potentially allow a partial return to royal life.

But they stressed Harry, 39, and wife Meghan, 43, were not seeking to give up their new life in California nor attempting a permanent return to Britain.

“Harry is turning away from all sorts of Hollywood publicists and seeking counsel from his old friends and associates,” a source told The Mail on Sunday.

“He is reaching out thinking, ‘I need to do something different because what I’m doing is not working’.”

At least one of the advisers said to have been approached by Harry is “from the old school” and known for loyalty and discretion.

The duke was also said to have contacted old friends and confidants via WhatsApp, including some who had not heard from him for years.

They are reportedly willing to help him build bridges with his old life in Britain, with some referring to it as Operation Bring Harry In From The Cold.

One was said to have devised a scheme that included him carrying out “very low-key royal duties”, although the idea would need to win the King’s backing.

A source said the friend believed “if Harry comes back to the UK with zero fuss and does zero publicity and attends very mundane events, he could prove himself and win over the public again. He would have to accept he might be reduced to ribbon-cutting for a long period. But it would give him purpose to work again”.

Ending Harry’s feud with William was said to be unlikely.

They reportedly sat apart and did not speak at the funeral of their uncle Lord Fellowes last week.

Harry has chosen not to update his controversial memoir, Spare, ahead of its release in paperback next month, nor to give interviews to publicise it, which could be seen as an olive branch.

Friends hope the duke’s former private secretary Edward Lane Fox might help him find a way back into royal life.

One said: “If anyone can do it, Edward can. Last time I saw him I wanted to take him by the shoulders and say, ‘Ed, please bring our boy home’.”

Meanwhile, it has emerged that Harry and Meghan have parted company with another American PR adviser, Christine Weil Schirmer, the tenth staff member to leave in three years. She has joined PR giant Brunswick.