In a royal surprise, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Markle plan to leave California and establish a home base in the United Kingdom, British media reported Wednesday.
The couple and their two children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, will head back across the pond later this month after giving up their senior royal roles and settling in California during the coronavirus pandemic, The Telegraph reported. With the children set to start school in September, the couple is expected to keep their homes in Montecito, California, and Portugal.
The move comes after years of bitter tensions between Harry and his estranged royal family — and just months after a low-key British trip that nonetheless caught the attention of royal watchers.
In July, King Charles III privately met with Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and their two children in the first family gathering since the royal rift erupted several years ago, The Daily Wire previously reported. The king and Queen Camilla met with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Archie, and Princess Lilibet at the Highgrove House country estate.
Relations deteriorated after Harry and Meghan’s bombshell 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, in which they accused an unnamed royal family member of raising concerns about how dark their first child Archie’s skin might be. The couple’s Netflix documentary and Harry’s memoir, Spare, which also included criticism of the royal family, further deepened the rift. Harry has also remained estranged from his older brother, Prince William, according to multiple reports.
After losing his appeal over government-funded security in Britain in 2025, Harry told the BBC he hoped to reconcile with his family.
“I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point continuing to fight anymore; life is precious,” Prince Harry said, insisting that the security argument has “always been the sticking point.” He also referenced his father’s cancer battle, saying he didn’t know how much time the king had left.
Harry has visited the U.K. without his wife on multiple occasions in recent years, including for his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in 2022 and his father’s coronation in 2023.
King Charles is aware of the couple’s plans and “welcomes the opportunity,” according to PEOPLE. Across the pond, however, not everyone is exactly thrilled with the royal reunion.
“I actually think a lot of people are going to be incredibly annoyed that they have been really disparaging about Britain,” GB News commentator Patrick Christys said. “They’ve caused huge potential racism allegations against both the serving monarch and also Catherine. They absolutely seem to have no shred of empathy whatsoever for Catherine’s cancer diagnosis. They’ve been absolutely vile, I think, about this country and about the royal family.”
Christys’ also questioned the motive and timing of the relocation.
“And yet here they are now. Their kids are getting to proper school age, and they want to move to a chocolate box quintessentially English village in the countryside, untouched by any other issues this country faces, so they can give their kids a good British education,” he added.
.png)
.png)
