William and Kate’s plan for Harry and Meghan: So many are forcing them to bury the hatchet… but now a friend tells RICHARD EDEN what their next step is – and why it’s bad news for the Sussexes

After absentmindedly leaving my cell phone on my seat as I hurriedly drove away London Underground train last Friday, I was forced to be absent from the wide world for a few days until I could get a replacement after the holiday weekend.

The experience was disturbing, somewhat frightening, and it made it clear to me how addicted I have become to my smartphone, which houses everything from my emails and social media to my camera, alarm clock and banking app.

One feeling, however, that became more and more pleasant as the hours and days passed was the break it gave me from the relentless gossip about the Duke’s return and Duchess of Sussex to this country.

If I had a pound for every tip I received about the likely location of their new home or the school their children would attend, Prince Archieseven years old, and Princess Lilibet, five, I could buy a country house of my own!

It’s the one thing a lot of people wanted to talk about since then Prince Harry and Meghan informed a handful of media friends two weeks ago that they were leaving California and returned to Britain six years after abandoning their royal duties to seek their fortunes in North America.

The Cotswolds, where the couple had previously rented a country house, was seen as their most likely destination and it sometimes seems as if there was virtually no one left in the 800 square miles of territory spanning six English counties who had not contacted me to provide exclusive information about the Sussexes’ supposed whereabouts. As the couple thought Los Angeles where gossip was the focus, just wait until they’ve spent a few weeks among the country bumpkins of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire!

Two people determined to ignore Meghan and Harry’s second coming are his estranged brother and sister-in-law, the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Many believe this situation cannot continue, with Prince William coming under increasing pressure to send Harry some olive branches.

My esteemed colleague Richard Kay argued in a compelling Voices video for the Daily Mail website that William cannot continue to ignore his younger brother.

“At some point they’re going to have to get involved because they can’t stay involved forever,” Kay said. “I would have thought that initially there would have to be a private meeting between Harry and William and probably Catherine and Meghan as well, where they can work out some kind of official line, even if it’s a kind of grab and grin in public, but at least show that there is some kind of public sense of reunion between the two.”

Kay said the estrangement could not continue for weeks or months. “The public will not accept this,” he said. “William knows that above all, his responsibility to the monarchy, to the institution, must come first, so he will have to put aside all his personal differences.”

I rarely disagree with my friend Richard, but I do on this. The pressure placed on William and Catherine is unfair and wrong. They have been treated horribly by Harry and Meghan and should feel no compulsion to mend fences with them. The Sussexes betrayed and insulted the couple not only in their interview with Oprah Winfrey, but also in their Netflix series, Harry’s memoir Spare and in a seemingly endless stream of interviews that Harry gave.

A friend of William and Catherine tells me they will continue to ignore the Sussexes. “It makes no difference whether Harry and Meghan are in Oxfordshire, California or Timbuktu,” the friend emphasizes. “William and Catherine will continue their lives in public service. They want to set a good example.’

A spokesperson for Kensington Palace declined to comment.