In the latest chapter of the Sussex soap opera, Meghan Markle has once again flooded Instagram with what she’s branding as a “sweet” and “romantic” family moment: a black-and-white video of herself and Prince Harry dancing barefoot on their Montecito lawn, swaying to upbeat music, sharing kisses, and even sneaking in a cheeky butt grab for good measure. Posted just days ago on January 16, 2026, the clip—supposedly filmed by their four-year-old daughter, Princess Lilibet—comes with a nostalgic caption tying it to their 2016 romance: “When 2026 feels just like 2016… you had to be there.” Adorable, right? Heartwarming? Authentic?
Hardly. Because while Meghan is busy curating this picture-perfect image of enduring love and carefree California life, the real Prince Harry touched down in London today, January 19, 2026, for the start of his high-stakes nine-week High Court trial against the publisher of the Daily Mail—and the contrast couldn’t be more glaring. Or should we say, more **balding**.
In the Instagram video, Harry’s signature ginger mane looks suspiciously full and youthful. The top of his head appears densely covered, with no visible thinning or that infamous crown bald spot that has plagued him for years. He twirls, laughs (sort of), and plays the part of the smitten husband without a single strand out of place. Fast-forward to his arrival at London’s High Court this morning: photos from multiple outlets show a very different man. From the front, he waves and smirks in a navy suit, but turn the camera around—and the back of his head tells a devastating story. A massive, shiny bald patch dominates the crown, receding hairline fully exposed, and the once-vibrant red locks reduced to a thinning fringe desperately clinging on.
**Did Prince Harry forget to pack his hair for the trip? Or is Meghan’s “recent” clip nothing more than a carefully archived relic from years ago, dusted off to prop up the crumbling facade of their Montecito paradise?**
The evidence is damning. Harry’s hair loss has been a slow, public tragedy for over a decade, following the classic Windsor male pattern baldness that has claimed his brother Prince William (whose “alarming” baldness Harry once mocked in *Spare*), Prince Edward, and even King Charles to varying degrees. Experts like Dr. Asim Shahmalak from Crown Clinic have tracked it meticulously: Harry’s bald patch has reportedly nearly doubled since his 2018 wedding to Meghan. By 2020, he was spotted seeking thickening treatments at London’s Philip Kingsley Trichological Clinic. Insiders have revealed that Team Sussex is “obsessed with image control,” rejecting hundreds of photos if the bald spot “catches the light wrong.” Photographers are allegedly instructed to “frame his face” only—never from behind, never showing the top.
Yet in Meghan’s latest upload, the lighting is forgiving, the angle is strategic (mostly side and front), and Harry’s hair looks magically restored. Social media sleuths and royal watchers aren’t buying it. On X (formerly Twitter), posts are flooding in with side-by-side comparisons: one user quipped, “One can always date these by Harry’s hair!” Another circulated brutal close-ups from today’s court appearance, captioned “alarmingly bald from behind despite his specific instructions.” Even Harry’s former hairdresser has publicly begged him to “let it go”—shave it off or get a transplant—calling the current comb-over attempts futile.
This isn’t the first time the Sussexes have been accused of timeline trickery. Their content often recycles old footage or uses heavy filters, staging “spontaneous” moments to humanize a brand that’s increasingly seen as manufactured. Remember the delivery-room twerking video? The endless throwbacks? Now, as Harry faces a courtroom showdown without his wife by his side, Meghan drops this suspiciously pristine dance clip—conveniently crediting little Lilibet to add that wholesome family touch. Critics are calling it desperate: a PR ploy to distract from the real story, which is a prince looking exhausted, isolated, and—yes—visibly balding in the harsh London daylight.
The irony is thick. Harry once joked about his brother’s hair loss in his memoir, yet here he is, clinging to every remaining follicle while his wife parades an illusion of youthful vigor. Insiders claim Meghan takes the hair issue “far more seriously” than Harry does, vetting every image to hide the truth. But no amount of Montecito sunshine or Instagram filters can hide reality forever. Today’s court photos are the unfiltered proof: the hair is gone, left behind in California along with whatever illusions of control the Sussexes still cling to.
So, to answer the burning question: Yes, Prince Harry appears to have left his hair in Montecito. Whether the dance video is genuinely “recent” or a recycled relic from a fuller-haired era, one thing is clear—this couple’s obsession with optics is reaching new heights of absurdity. While Harry fights tabloids in court, Meghan fights Father Time on social media. And the world is watching both battles with raised eyebrows… and zero sympathy for the vanishing ginger locks.
Time to face facts, Your Royal Highness: The hair isn’t coming back. Neither, it seems, is the credibility.
