It is the question that has been hanging in the air in London for years without anyone being able to answer it: Can a prince return who has written a kind of tell-all book about his family? ZDF is dedicating an entire film to it on Tuesday, August 18. Will Prince Harry Return? by Annette von der Heyde airs at 8:15 p.m. and according to the network's announcement will be available for streaming from 5 a.m. on the same day. For around 45 minutes, it focuses on a rupture that continues to shake the British monarchy to this day.

The starting point: Prince Harry (41) was once among the most popular members of the British royal family. That is no longer the case today. In between lie the departure from life as a full-time royal in 2020, the move with his small family to the United States, and an escalation that the film traces: revelations, accusations, radio silence. Contact between Harry and his family of origin is said to have been completely broken off at times.

Of course I miss England

The film lets Harry speak for himself, including with statements from a BBC interview from May 2025. I love my country, I always have. Of course I miss England, he says there.

How long he struggled with the role into which he was born, he describes in a passage from the Inter Edge Summit in April 2026: After my mother's death shortly before my 13th birthday, I thought to myself, I don't want this job, don't want to take on this role. My mother paid for it with her life. I was totally against it and stuck my head in the sand for many years. Only later did he realize that he could do good in his position: By helping other people, I also help myself.

He provides a brief acknowledgment in the ITV interview from April 24, 2026: I will always be part of the royal family, and I'm doing exactly the kind of work I was born into. And I enjoy doing it.

Member yes, employee no

It's precisely this distinction that Roya Nikkhah, royal expert from Times and Sunday Times, emphasizes. Prince Harry is still a member of the royal family, but he's doing his own things. He no longer works for the royal household as an institution. That's a big difference, she says in the new TV documentary. When the couple left Great Britain in 2020, they made it clear they would define life and work differently in the future.

For Nikkhah, the reason emotions run high about Harry is simple: Harry is one of the most famous men in the world. He polarizes: Everything he does provokes reactions, in one direction or another.

How a play on words became a verdict

The film also explores the question of why the anger of the British public was directed primarily at Harry's wife, Duchess Meghan (44). When the domestic media learned that she was 'bi-ethnic', American, an actress, divorced and also older than Prince Harry, she was chosen as the villain in the play that is now being performed, journalist Afua Hagan summarizes in the TV documentary.

Columnist Katie Nicholl points to the effect of the term Megxit: No one had expected that Harry and Meghan would step down as 'working royals'. Then the term 'Megxit' was coined, thereby placing the blame on Meghan with the result that the British public turned against her. Yet it was Harry who wanted out.

The nightmare scenario is called Edward VIII

For the prospects of reconciliation, the film draws historical parallels, especially to Edward VIII (1894-1972), who abdicated for love and went into exile. Nicholl warns: If you remember that reconciliation with the once-abdicated King Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor, only happened on his deathbed, then you can only hope that this part of royal history does not repeat itself. She believes King Charles (77) will find a way to forgive Harry and make peace with him.

Nikkhah has spoken with people from Harry's circle: He desperately wants to spend time with his father, with his children. But a lot depends on how the relationship develops and whether Harry gets security protection again. According to ZDF, there are indeed initial signals: talks behind closed doors, a meeting after almost two years. Whether that's enough for more, the film leaves open. Because while Harry's brother, heir to the throne Prince William (44), announces a generational change with a course toward modernization, the monarchy is under pressure anyway.

A week later it gets uncomfortable for the next generation

The film is the opener of a royal double feature in ZDF's summer programming. On August 25, In the Shadow of the Crown - Scandals, Crises, Jetset follows at 8:15 p.m. It focuses on young aristocrats between privilege and the search for meaning: Eugenie and Beatrice of York, Charlotte Casiraghi, Madeleine of Sweden and Marius, the scandal offspring of Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit.