The year: 2021. The setting: the sprawling grounds of Montecito. In the camera frame: megacelebrity TV host Oprah Winfrey seated across from royal refugees, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. In an exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey, the couple revealed just why they fled England and royal life for refuge in California. The transatlantic move would famously be dubbed “Megxit.”
“Lack of support, lack of security, potential racism through &#8216;<a href="https://news.sky.com/story/meghan-wrote-to-king-charles-expressing-concern-about-unconscious-bias-in-the-royal-family-reports-12863044">unconscious bias</a>,&#8217; being silenced.” These were all <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXpFFFCvcH4">reasons the couple gave</a> for why staying in the U.K. was untenable.
“My biggest concern was history repeating itself,” Harry said, referring to Meghan allegedly being tormented by the media, drawing the parallel to his mother, Princess Diana, prior to her death. Markle asserted that their voices were “silenced.” And in the most famous confession of the entire sit-down, Markle accused unnamed royal members of the family of having “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born,” referring to their unborn son. And just a little over a year ago, Harry, after losing a court battle for taxpayer-funded security, <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/prince-harry-says-loss-of-security-protection-makes-it-impossible-to-bring-meghan-and-children-to-uk-13360358">vowed that it was impossible</a> to bring his family back to his home country. He stated he couldn’t &#8220;see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the U.K. at this point.”
Well…here we are a little over a year later. The couple has no promises of government security, no invitations (that we know of) to return as working royals, and no public resolution of the racial-bias allegations…so why are they going back, given their longstanding concerns?
Some critics and commentators say the “prodigal prince” could be returning for two major reasons: money and power. <a href="https://robshuter.substack.com/p/exclusive-harrys-60-million-legal">Celebrity reporter Rob Shuter</a> claims the Sussexes are under significant financial strain from their bills, especially because of Harry’s failed lawsuits against the U.K. press. Shuter estimates the following: “$5 million a year for private security, the upkeep of their Montecito estate, staff salaries, travel, and the costs of maintaining their global brand.” As <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/harry-reportedly-facing-financial-downward-185701598.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAA6x0SHDHRvNXitONi8vVaIDdZFvgCymzChNxjbxmN4m8hmu0p1HAefN43Io4m-Rp4NSTiykACenUXd1SJaTuguuHUA9Oag_raCsCkm6N9g8atn46tX3Bc8cJwfb0PBbcWu4tWEQn4tHNIU1wk5IfHMdjqUfERsB5KH2bZm403W6">one report points out,</a> &#8220;People think Harry and Meghan have unlimited money — they don&#8217;t,&#8221; another insider said. &#8220;They&#8217;ve earned a fortune, but they&#8217;ve spent one too. A financial hit of this size changes the conversation overnight.&#8221; <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/prince-harry-seeking-king-charles-120104132.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAA6x0SHDHRvNXitONi8vVaIDdZFvgCymzChNxjbxmN4m8hmu0p1HAefN43Io4m-Rp4NSTiykACenUXd1SJaTuguuHUA9Oag_raCsCkm6N9g8atn46tX3Bc8cJwfb0PBbcWu4tWEQn4tHNIU1wk5IfHMdjqUfERsB5KH2bZm403W6">Some speculate</a> that proximity to the bank of King Charles couldn’t hurt given the reported financial strain the couple is under.
However accurate that may or may not be, there is still the reality that the King is actively battling cancer. Prince Harry has been open about <a href="https://deadline.com/2025/05/prince-harry-seeks-reconciliation-king-charles-cancer-1236384125/">his desire to reconcile </a>with his father and that he doesn’t &#8220;know how much longer my father has.&#8221; Living in the same country would create greater opportunities for true reconciliation and give the King a chance to know his grandchildren.
But…there are also whispers swirling around that the timing of this homecoming is very deliberate. One unnamed source tells <a href="http://radaronline.com/">RadarOnline.com</a> in an exclusive that Harry is “hoping to re-establish his royal position before his estranged brother, Prince William, takes the crown along with his wife, Princess Kate [Middleton]. &#8220;Harry may never get a better window of opportunity.&#8221; It’s a claim I’ve heard bandied about more than once. It’s no secret that William and Harry are not on speaking terms. The brothers have been unable to reconcile after Harry’s negative references to William’s wife, Kate Middleton, in his <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/04/03/entertainment/prince-harry-in-painful-place-after-writing-about-kate-middleton-in-spare-expert/">bestselling memoir, Spare</a>. William certainly can’t control whether Harry and his family move back to England, but, as King, he would ultimately have far greater influence over Harry’s relationship with the institution.
Given the breaking news of their pending move this month, are we looking at a future where Harry and Meghan are royal-adjacent? Accessing Buckingham Palace while also hawking Meghan’s As Ever products? Holding court with the King while also taking Netflix calls? If that’s the case, then this might be the best arrangement the Sussexes could’ve ever envisioned.
Now, six years later, Harry and Meghan appear to be testing whether they can have the best of both worlds: the freedom of private citizens, the commercial opportunities of their Sussex brand, and the proximity and prestige that come with being members of the Royal Family. We don&#8217;t exactly know the motivation. But after years of insisting that Britain was unsafe and intolerable, their decision to return inevitably raises questions about what has really changed.
And sure, they’re entitled to change their minds about Britain. But the rest of us are entitled to ask why.
***
Emily Osment Davis is a writer and communicator with a background in non-profits and politics and a not-so-secret love of celebrity gossip. She covers the space where Hollywood meets D.C. — because sometimes the two aren’t so different. You may have read her work in Newsweek, USA Today, Fox News, and more.

The Duke & Duchess of Sussex Attend a Roundtable Discussion on Gender Equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust

Cash, Crown, And The Royal Return of Harry And Meghan

DW Opinion

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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,<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2026/08/19/exclusive-harry-and-meghan-move-back-to-britain/"> The Telegraph</a> 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, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/prince-harry-reunites-with-king-charles-brings-meghan-and-children?author=Amanda+Harding&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Prince+Harry+Reunites+With+King+Charles%2C+Brings+Meghan+And+Children">The Daily Wire</a> 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 <a href="https://people.com/prince-harry-meghan-markle-moving-back-uk-with-prince-archie-princess-lilibet-exclusive-12061632">PEOPLE</a>. 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 <a href="https://x.com/GBNEWS/status/2090197223241891845?s=20">said</a>. “They&#8217;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&#8217;s cancer diagnosis. They&#8217;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.

The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex Visit Australia – Day 4

PARTY IN THE USA: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Returning To UK After Years Of Royal Turmoil

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King Charles III privately met with Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and their two children on Friday in what multiple reports described as the first family gathering since the royal rift erupted several years ago. 
NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/world/united-kingdom/king-charles-hosted-prince-harry-family-first-time-years-rift-rcna385893">reported</a> the king and Queen Camilla met with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Archie, and Princess Lilibet at Highgrove House country estate. The meeting came after years of public tensions that followed Harry and Meghan&#8217;s decision to step back from royal duties in 2020.
Relations deteriorated after Harry and Meghan&#8217;s 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, the couple&#8217;s Netflix documentary, and Harry&#8217;s memoir, &#8220;Spare,&#8221; all of which included criticism of the royal family. 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 last year, 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&#8217;s cancer battle, saying he didn&#8217;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. 
British media have reported that Meghan and the children were vacationing in Portugal prior to the meeting outside London. British media reported that no photographs or video would be released.

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Prince Harry Reunites With King Charles, Brings Meghan And Children

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This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
When Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles and Queen Camilla would visit the United States to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence, I knew I had to call Mark Helprin.
The bestselling author’s fifth novel, 2005’s “Freddy and Fredericka,” is a thinly veiled sendup of Charles and Princess Diana — who, in this case, must travel to America and recapture “the colonies” in order to be blessed by an immortal, magical falcon who selects the true kings of England.
If you’ve never read one of Helprin’s novels, that summary is a pretty good glimpse into the experience: discursive and funny with a healthy shake of magical realism.
“Freddy and Fredericka” is a darkly comic romp across the United States that finds our heroes falling in love with the country they were sent to recapture, urging Americans to “let everything in the nation flow through you” and to return to “your original principles … immaterial and bright, ever enduring.”
It’s been more than a decade since I first read “Freddy and Fredericka,” and I’ve returned again and again to this book, essentially “Democracy In America” in novel form. So I was excited to ask Helprin how much Tocqueville was on his mind while he wrote the novel.
“He wasn’t,” Helprin said, for one simple reason: He had never read Tocqueville.
He was, however, in the process of reading “Democracy in America” in French, along with &#8220;The Wealth of Nations,&#8221; another classic he’s never gotten to. Shakespeare and Dante are in heavy rotation, however, as is fiction until the Lost Generation. Nothing after Fitzgerald and Hemingway holds much interest for Helprin, which, he stresses, has everything to do with his personal taste and nothing to do with snobbery.
There’s nothing about Helprin’s oeuvre or demeanor that would suggest he is anything other than well-read. But if yielding at Dos Passos for some reason stirs up doubts about Helprin’s literacy, the thousands of volumes that line the shelves of Helprin&#8217;s Charlottesville home should put them to rest. I once heard that Helprin has every paper he’s ever written, going back to his undergraduate career at Harvard, if not high school.
I didn’t ask him about this because I didn’t want it to not be true. After our conversation, I’m certain it is.
Helprin is everything you want him to be. Smartly dressed in a light check blazer, occasionally self-effacing and always captivating, he’s like a character from one of his novels — the latest of which, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Elegy-Blue-Novel-Mark-Helprin/dp/1419786083">“Elegy In Blue,”</a> hits shelves this week. All told, he’s written nine novels, three collections of short stories, and three children&#8217;s books illustrated by “Jumanji” author Chris Van Allsburg.
In addition, Helprin maintains a steady stream of political commentary, weighing in on everything from copyright law to foreign policy. Helprin’s fans, myself included, say he’s one of the greatest living American novelists. Helprin almost certainly wouldn’t say that about himself, which is likely why, despite a half-century in the public eye, he manages to fly somewhat under the radar.
Helprin’s relative anonymity is especially ironic considering his downright cinematic backstory. His mother was an actress in the Golden Age of Hollywood who left the Silver Screen to join the Group Theatre, a famous Method acting collective. His father, an American commando who worked for Winston Churchill during the Second World War, later became the head of London Films. It was there, in an office in Mayfair, that the first seeds for “Freddy and Fredericka” were planted by the king and queen themselves.
“Part of his job was, when the Queen and Prince Philip wanted to see a film, they would come in one Rolls Royce, no security or anything like that,” Helprin recalls. “He would greet them on the sidewalk and then escort them upstairs and into the screening room, where there was a buffet laid out with caviar and shrimp and everything, champagne, whatever.”
“And they would sit down, and then he would introduce the film, tell them about how it was made, what the subject was, whatever screen the film,” he continues. “And then afterwards, he would take questions from them, if they had any, and then escort them down to the street and see them off and say, thank you very much for coming.”
“They never thanked him, ever,” Helprin notes.
Helprin never forgot that. Not as he did his graduate work, which kept him at Harvard before taking him to Oxford; not during his time in the Israel Defense Forces, a tour of duty he embarked on after he was asked — and declined — to move to Cairo and serve as the Middle East editor for the New York Times.
Somewhere toward the end of his itinerant youth, he began a career as a writer. His first novel, “Refiner’s Fire,” was published in 1977. He achieved mainstream success with 1983’s “Winter’s Tale” and 1991’s “A Soldier Of The Great War.”
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<div id="attachment_1086299" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1086299" class="wp-image-1086299 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-50466632.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="655" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-50466632.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-50466632-300x192.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-50466632-900x576.jpg 900w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-50466632-768x491.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Photo by Mario Ruiz/Getty Images</div>
It was during a three-month book tour for the latter novel that the seeds planted by his family’s royal connection finally began to sprout. It was the &#8217;90s, and Charles and Di were all over the news. Seeing a man and a woman washing dishes at a restaurant kitchen one night, one of his daughters asked if the scullions were the duke and duchess.
Helprin saw an opportunity for “misapprehension,” which he calls “the funniest part of all humor.”
“If you think about the royals in Britain, they have so much opportunity for that because they live in a completely different world,” Helprin says. “But there&#8217;s even greater opportunity if they&#8217;re here amongst the colonials incognito.”
“Freddy and Fredericka” was a success in the United States. It was not published in Britain, where audiences were less receptive to Helprin’s take on the monarchy. Helprin has no regrets.
“I mocked the royals because they&#8217;re mockable,” he says. “They&#8217;re insanely mockable. They&#8217;re freaks, right? And they live in a freakish world.”
But Helprin appreciates that by separating their head of state and the head of government, the British monarchy “allows a really stable, decent government.” That attitude didn’t fly with “the loony Left” across the pond.
At least one person in Great Britain received a copy, however.
“Just by chance, I was invited to dinner that Prince Charles was supposed to attend in Washington, D.C.,” Helprin recalls. “And I said, &#8216;Well, you know what I better do? I better send Freddy and Fredericka to the palace,’ because, you know, to give them advance warning you don&#8217;t want to sandbag people.”
“So I sent it to the palace,” he explains, “and then without any word whatsoever, I was just disinvited to the dinner.”
Had he met Charles, Helprin says, he would have “approached him as an American.”
“We don&#8217;t believe that people are born with privilege, that, in other words, that privilege is legitimate, that they&#8217;re entitled to it, and we see them eye to eye,” Helprin adds. “That&#8217;s what America is about, and that there&#8217;s a very, very powerful force behind that, our history, our power, our ethos and the founding, which was, I think, divinely inspired.”
“If I&#8217;m sitting across from the King of England,” Helprin says, “I don&#8217;t feel lesser in any way.”
It’s a line that could have been spoken by most of Helprin’s protagonists. The typical Helprin hero is a kind of Aristotelian great-souled man with a Brooklyn accent. Most of Helprin’s novels take place in and around New York City, where Helprin was born and lived the first five years of his life, and a city that still captivates him and feels like home, despite the oppressive scale of “way too tall” buildings and the scourge of bike messengers zipping around with food, &#8220;because everybody has to have instant gratification.”
Of all Helprin’s New York novels, “Winter’s Tale” stands alone. Set simultaneously at the turns of the 20th and 21st centuries, the novel has at least 100 characters, a lengthy subplot about rival 19th-century newspaper barons, a magical realist upstate New York town with its own magic language, and a flying white horse.
That barely scratches the surface of what “Winter’s Tale” is about, and I’m not sure I could accurately describe it if I tried. The book has stuck with me, almost haunted me, for years. Whenever I’ve read another of Helprin’s books, I hope to find within it the key to understanding it. I never have.
Helprin, it seems, is in the same boat.
“I can&#8217;t explain it, but it possessed me day and night,” he says. “I would spend days in the New York Historical Society … and I&#8217;d walk the streets, looking at things and getting very, very obsessed and emotional about it.”
“So in a sense, I&#8217;m not the one to explain it, because it seizes me as much as other people who report that it did the same to them,” Helprin adds. “I felt as if I was just a medium of something that was speaking through me.”
To the extent that the book is about one thing, Helprin says, it’s about justice. Divine justice.
“People say God works in mysterious ways. Well, they&#8217;re not necessarily mysterious,” he says — they just come “from the past.”
“Who said that everything has to be made right in the timeline that we can perceive? Maybe it&#8217;s different, maybe from the divine perspective, the timeline is infinitely long, and the balances are affected and affect justice over a long period of time, so that after an injustice, maybe 20 years later, there&#8217;s some sort of a compromise,” Helprin adds.
“If you look at the whole of humanity and the whole of the universe as being one construct, if you think that from the divine perspective, that&#8217;s what it is, because you see from very far away, and it&#8217;s as one thing actually, without time.”
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<div id="attachment_1086301" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1086301" class="wp-image-1086301 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-502546985.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="763" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-502546985.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-502546985-300x224.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-502546985-773x576.jpg 773w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-502546985-768x572.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Photo by John Mahler/Toronto Star via Getty Images</div>
We mortals, of course, cannot see as God sees. But this is what Helprin aims to do in his novels. More than that, it’s how he sees the world, day in and day out.
“If you ask my wife, she would tell you, it&#8217;s very difficult to be married to me,” he says. “Very, very difficult.”
To stay grounded while thinking these lofty thoughts, Helprin works. He has been an agricultural worker, a surveyor, a dishwasher, and a stevedore.
“I spend so much time working, doing hard, physical, exhausting labor, that while I&#8217;m doing that often I think of things and think of what I&#8217;m going to do about the book, and when I get the chance to actually write the book, I’m so grateful for it because it&#8217;s different from, you know, spending hours on a tractor in the hot sun or getting rid of trees that fall,” he says. “So you come in from the heat and the dust and the dirt and the blood — if you work on a farm, you&#8217;re gonna have a lot of blood, and you&#8217;ll be lucky if you keep your fingers when you come in — then you have a refuge. And it&#8217;s a great privilege.”
“It&#8217;s almost like — to return to where we started — almost like being a royal,” he adds.
Helprin is on the cusp of turning 80, and while he says nothing to suggest that he wants to give up the punishing labor that’s driven so much of his life (and allowed him never to take a publisher’s advance), mortality is at least a little on his mind.
“Elegy In Blue,” he notes, “is probably not going to be my last book, as I&#8217;m working on another one. But, who knows, I may not be able to finish the other one. I might die before I do.”
Like his novels, Helprin feels neither outdated nor contemporary. He is a man out of time, a bridge between this century and the last who would likely feel equally at home in both. He speaks as he writes, and he lives like the characters he creates, a true American original.
But, unsurprisingly, the anti-monarchist with Tory sensibilities does miss the world he grew up in.
“I have to say, I do miss it, I really do,” he says. “When you&#8217;re going to be 80, then you&#8217;ll probably miss it, too. You know, that&#8217;s the way it is. And it&#8217;s okay.”

Untitled design – 2026-04-29T101512.647

He Turned The Royals Into A Joke. His Take On America Is Anything But.

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In a show of tradition and diplomatic goodwill, President Donald Trump and King Charles III exchanged symbolic gifts on Tuesday during the British monarch’s state visit.
King Charles gave Trump a historically significant, high-quality reproduction of the 1879 design plans for the Resolute Desk, which sits in the Oval Office. The 1,300-pound desk was crafted from salvaged timbers from the British ship H.M.S. Resolute, as The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/28/us/trump-king-charles-visit-gifts.html">reported</a>. The original design plans are housed at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England.
In return, Trump gifted the British Monarch a framed copy of a 1785 letter from then-U.S. ambassador to Britain John Adams to John Jay, who was serving as U.S. Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Adams, who would later become the nation’s second president, described in the letter a meeting with King George III in which both sides agreed to move forward amicably despite lingering bad feelings from the Revolutionary War. 
The exchange was widely seen as a symbolic nod to the enduring relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.
First lady Melania Trump and Queen Camilla also exchanged gifts. Melania Trump presented the queen with a set of six engraved silver spoons from Tiffany &amp; Co., while Queen Camilla gifted the first lady a designer brooch.
It was also revealed this week that Trump and King Charles share a distant familial connection, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/yes-kings-trump-is-related-to-british-monarch-charles-iii">reported</a>. Research cited by The Daily Mail traces both men&#8217;s lineage back to the 3rd Earl of Lennox, a great-grandson of King James II of Scotland, making them 15th cousins.
The official White House X account highlighted the discovery, sharing a chart tracing back the ancestry research along with a screenshot of Trump&#8217;s reaction on Truth Social: “Wow, that’s nice. I always wanted to live in Buckingham Palace!!! I’ll talk to the King and Queen about this in a few minutes!!!”
King Charles and Queen Camilla are visiting the United States as the country approaches the 250th anniversary of its independence from Britain, a milestone both sides are marking as a sign of the continued strength of the transatlantic alliance. The royal couple arrived in the United States on Monday and is scheduled to visit Washington, D.C., New York, and Virginia.

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King Charles, Camilla Brought Gifts To The White House. Here’s What They Got In Return.

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Maybe he’s a king after all? According to a newly published <a href="https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15770263/Mail-traced-Trumps-family-tree-Kings-cousin.html">report</a> from The Daily Mail, President Trump shares a common ancestor with the British monarch King Charles III.
The news broke the day after Charles and his wife arrived in the United States for an official state visit. Their research shows that the connection starts with the 3rd Earl of Lennox, a great-grandson of King James II of Scotland. This ultimately makes Trump and Charles III 15th cousins. 
The official White House X account posted about the findings, including a chart tracing back the ancestry research. They also included a screenshot of the president’s Truth Social post about it, which said, “Wow, that’s nice. I always wanted to live in Buckingham Palace!!! I’ll talk to the King and Queen about this in a few minutes!!!”
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👀 <a href="https://t.co/DP7jAYh7Qj">pic.twitter.com/DP7jAYh7Qj</a>
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/2049115763777085519?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Trump and King Charles have another thing in common, namely remaining calm in the face of would-be assassins. Trump has been remarkably brave when confronted with someone trying to murder him not once, not twice, but three times — first in Butler, Pennsylvania when a bullet grazed his ear after he miraculously turned his head at the precise right moment, and again on Saturday night when a gunman crashed the White House Correspondents’ Dinner armed with multiple weapons and the intent to kill the president.
More than three decades ago in 1994, King Charles (then Prince Charles) was targeted by a crazed activist himself while giving a speech in Australia. David Kang, 23, fired off two blanks and tripped onto the stage where Charles was speaking before being tackled by the future monarch’s security detail.
The whole time, the Prince of Wales can be seen looking on with a mildly sour look on his face, without cowering in fear or ducking for cover.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are visiting the United States as the country approaches the 250th anniversary of its independence from Britain as a signal of the strong relationship between the two countries. The royal couple will visit Washington DC, New York, and Virginia between April 27 and 30.
Buckingham Palace issued a statement on Sunday evening following the assassination attempt, saying the event did not change their plans.
&#8220;The King and Queen are most grateful to all those who have worked at pace to ensure this remains the case and are looking forward to the Visit getting underway tomorrow,&#8221; the statement said.

King Charles and Donald Trump

Is Trump In Line For The British Throne? The Connection To The Royal Family

The British government is considering removing former Prince Andrew from the line of succession following his recent arrest.
The legislation would prevent Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from ever becoming king, the BBC reported.
Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his titles last year, but is still eighth in line to the throne. He would only be next in line following the deaths of Prince William, William’s three children, Prince Harry, and Harry’s two children.
Removing Mountbatten-Windsor from succession would be the “right thing to do,” Defence Minister Luke Pollard told the BBC.
The government would not take steps to remove Mountbatten-Windsor until after the police investigation concludes, Pollard said. He added that he hoped the move would “enjoy cross-party support.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has indicated support for such legislation, The Times <a href="https://www.thetimes.com/uk/royal-family/article/will-andrew-be-removed-from-line-of-succession-ksgdd3jhx?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqdNWa15Dk7Exka6IcXf8U20YrZrUc5VGCDfw81RF_a47qLSP6R9Y8Nw&amp;gaa_ts=6999e484&amp;gaa_sig=dX5zcawzbCxM4QsAaSTq_4CYPGVdFBY18JBbpurubugbk9GtepHlSMJ0iVJhVtB6rJeNOdGpzD8jnpZOkNZ-DA%3D%3D">reported</a>. Buckingham Palace has said it will not interfere should Parliament proceed.
Still, James Murray, chief secretary to the Treasury, told the BBC that “any questions in that sphere would be quite complicated.”
Thames Valley Police arrested Mountbatten-Windsor on his 66th birthday on Thursday, The Daily Wire previously reported. He was held on suspicion of misconduct in public office but released later that day, according to the BBC.
His was the first arrest of a member of the British royal family since Charles I was arrested almost 400 years ago.
Law enforcement said Mountbatten-Windsor was being investigated over concerns that he shared “confidential material,” reportedly including trade documents, with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mountbatten-Windsor could face life in prison if convicted.
“Following a thorough assessment, we have now opened an investigation into this allegation of misconduct in public office,” Assistant Chief Constable Oliver Wright said at the time.
The Metropolitan Police expanded the investigation Friday and is contacting all of Andrew’s former protection officers, The Times reported.
King Charles III called for a fair investigation into Mountbatten-Windsor.
“What now follows is the full, fair and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities,” he said in a statement following Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest. “In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and co-operation.”
Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, who died by apparent suicide last year, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-prince-andrew-arrested-over-epstein-files-faces-life-in-prison">alleged</a> that Mountbatten-Windsor sexually abused her when she was 17. He previously <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60667111">settled</a> a civil lawsuit brought by Giuffre in 2022 without admitting wrongdoing.
“He knows what he’s done and he can attest to that,” Giuffre said in 2019. “He knows exactly what he’s done and I hope he comes clean about it.”
Giuffre&#8217;s family welcomed the arrest.
&#8220;Today, our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty,&#8221; they said. &#8220;He was never a prince.&#8221;
&#8220;For survivors everywhere, Virginia did this for you,” they added.
Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.

Former Prince Andrew

Arrest Of Former Prince Andrew Prompts Potential Succession Shake-Up

Epstein Files

Jeffrey Epstein

Keir Starmer

Prince Andrew

U.K.

World

Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson, ex-wife of the U.K.’s Prince Andrew, has been dropped from multiple charities after it was revealed that she sent an apologetic email to convicted sex predator Jeffrey Epstein.
Leaked emails show that the Duchess of York called Epstein a “steadfast, generous, and supreme friend” even after publicly distancing herself from him.
Epstein had pleaded guilty to two prostitution charges in 2008 and agreed to register as a sex offender. Ferguson gave an interview to The Evening Standard in 2011, stating that she would never speak to him again. However, weeks later, she reportedly sent an email to Epstein apologizing for her previous comments and insisting that he was still her friend. 
“I abhor pedophilia and any sexual abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgment on my behalf,” Fergie said during the interview about accepting a $15,000 payment from the sex offender. “Whenever I can, I will repay the money and will have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again.”
In her email to Epstein, she denied linking his name to pedophilia.
“As you know I did not, absolutely not, say the P (pedophile) word about you,” Fergie’s email reportedly said. &#8220;I know you feel hellaciously let down by me from what you were either told or read and I must humbly apologize to you and your heart for that.&#8221; 
At least five charities have severed ties with Fergie since The Sun <a href="https://www.the-sun.com/royals/15224768/sarah-ferguson-jeffrey-epstein-apology-email/">reported</a> the leaked email over the weekend.
“We were disturbed to read of Sarah, Duchess of York’s, correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein,” Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, the founders of the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, said in a statement, per <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/23/uk/epstein-email-duchess-of-york-intl">CNN</a>.
“She was a patron but, in the light of the recent revelations, we have taken the decision that it would be inappropriate for her to continue to be associated with the charity.”
The Duchess of York was also dropped by the children’s hospice organization, Julia’s House. 
&#8220;Following the information shared this weekend on the Duchess of York&#8217;s correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein, Julia&#8217;s House has taken the decision that it would be inappropriate for her to continue as a patron of the charity,&#8221; a spokesperson <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/sarah-ferguson-dropped-multiple-charities-after-calling-jeffrey-epstein-generous-supreme-friend">told</a> Fox News Digital. &#8220;We have advised the Duchess of York of this decision and thank her for her past support.&#8221;
Other charities to cut ties include The British Heart Foundation and The Children’s Literacy Charity.
A representative for Ferguson blamed the email on threats she had allegedly received from Epstein after the interview with The Evening Standard.
&#8220;Like many people, she was taken in by [Epstein’s] lies. As soon as she was aware of the extent of the allegations against him, she not only cut off contact but condemned him publicly, to the extent that he then threatened to sue her for defamation for associating him with pedophilia,&#8221; the statement <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/sep/21/sarah-ferguson-apologised-to-jeffrey-epstein-after-disowning-him-leaked-emails-suggest">said</a>. &#8220;She does not resile from anything she said then. This email was sent in the context of advice the duchess was given to try to assuage Epstein and his threats.&#8221;
Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for multiple crimes, including sex trafficking of women and minors as young as 14.

Sarah Ferguson

Charities Sever Ties With Prince Andrew’s Ex After Jeffrey Epstein Comments Surface

Charities Sever Links With Sarah Ferguson After Epstein Comments Surface

Celebrities

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not have their multi-year deal with Netflix renewed when it expires in September, according to a <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/royals/35969847/prince-harry-meghan-netflix-deal-axed/">report</a> from The Sun.
The royal couple has launched several projects with the streaming giant since the announcement of their $100 million deal in 2020. These specials and shows have had varying degrees of success, with the 2022 docuseries “Harry &amp; Meghan” remaining the most popular among them. 
Meanwhile, other projects, such as Prince Harry’s “Polo” and Markle’s lifestyle series “With Love, Meghan,” have failed to capture the attention of Netflix’s audience. In a recent <a href="https://about.netflix.com/en/news/what-we-watched-the-first-half-of-2025">Engagement Report</a> put out by the streamer, the “Polo” documentary was listed as number 3,436 on the list of shows ranked by most-watched, while Markle’s new series came in at number 383.
A second season of “With Love, Meghan” has already been filmed and is set to debut in September. Her first <a href="https://people.com/chrissy-teigen-appear-season-2-meghan-markle-netflix-series-with-love-meghan-11736557">confirmed</a> guest star is Chrissy Teigen.
“There’s no animosity from either side,” an unnamed source told The Sun of Netflix’s decision not to renew the contract. “Things have just run their course.”
The insider also discussed why “Harry &amp; Meghan” was the most successful project so far. 
“Netflix were clever in that they got a hell of a lot of viewers for the first documentary series, and knew, realistically, it would prove the zenith of content from the Montecito pair,&#8221; the source said, noting that the partnership ending represents a &#8220;huge loss of revenue.&#8221;
“They’re not unhappy with how things turned out — they got those initial hits, and produced one of the most talked-about shows of all time,&#8221; the insider added. 
Prince Harry and Markle have had a hard time achieving fame and success in the United States after quitting their full-time working royal roles in 2020 and moving to California permanently. Critics have been vocal in their distaste, as reflected on social media after news of the Netflix partnership&#8217;s end came to light.
“Good. The grifters are out of business,” one person <a href="https://x.com/TerryinSoCalif/status/1948052133389213733">wrote</a>, echoing what many others were saying.
“I am only surprised that Netflix thought this was a good business decision in the first place,” another commenter <a href="https://x.com/julie_mcbane/status/1947997610658128182">observed</a>.
“Thank goodness. Insufferable fools,” a third agreed.
&nbsp;

Harry and Meghan

Netflix Pulls Plug On $100M Deal With Prince Harry And Meghan Markle

Prince Harry And Meghan Markle's $100M Netflix Deal Not Getting Renewed

Entertainment

Netflix

Prince Harry sat down for an interview in California with the BBC one day after losing an appeal to reinstate his security detail in the United Kingdom.
The former working British royal, who quit his official duties and fled to California with his actress wife, Meghan Markle, in 2020, said he was very upset at the outcome.
&#8220;I&#8217;m devastated &#8211; not so much as devastated with the loss that I am about the people behind the decision, feeling as though this is okay. Is it a win for them?&#8221; Prince Harry said.
&#8220;I&#8217;m sure there are some people out there, probably most likely the people that wish me harm, [who] consider this a huge win,” he added.
Harry, 40, said his father, King Charles, &#8220;won&#8217;t speak to me because of this security stuff.” He also alluded to the king’s current cancer battle, saying he did &#8220;not know how much longer my father has,” per <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8074n5z597o">BBC</a>.
“I can&#8217;t see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK at this point,&#8221; the Duke of Sussex said during the interview. 
&#8220;There have been so many disagreements between myself and some of my family,&#8221; he continued, saying that he has &#8220;forgiven&#8221; them.
&#8220;I would love reconciliation with my family. There&#8217;s no point continuing to fight anymore, life is precious,&#8221; Prince Harry said, insisting that the security argument has &#8220;always been the sticking point.&#8221;
Markle and Harry share two children: Archie, 6, and Lilibet, 4. The Duchess of Sussex did not address the interview, but did share a black and white photo on Instagram of her husband and the children facing away from the camera. 
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As for losing the court battle to reinstate security, Prince Harry said, “The things that they’re going to miss is, well, everything. I love my country &#8230; Despite what some people in that country have done.”
Harry added, “I miss the U.K., I miss parts of the U.K., of course I do … I think that it’s really quite sad that I won’t be able to show my children my homeland.”

Prince Harry Loses Court Battle, Says He Would ‘Love A Reconciliation’ With His Family

Prince Harry Loses Court Battle, Says He Would 'Love A Reconciliation' With His Family

Courts

Meghan Markle is getting dragged for her over-the-top arrival to a Broadway show, with critics calling her four-car motorcade through Manhattan “ridiculous.”
The Duchess of Sussex attended a showing of the revival of “Gypsy” last week escorted by three other vehicles, both to hold her security personnel and to serve as decoys. Page Six <a href="https://pagesix.com/2025/04/11/royal-family/meghan-markle-hires-over-the-top-motorcade-for-broadway-night/">reported</a> that Markle hired former Secret Service agents as part of her private security detail and that the unmarked vehicle, which belonged to the New York Police Department, carried two intel detectives.
One paparazzi photographer described Markle’s measures as total overkill. The unnamed source said her motorcade stunt was “absolutely abnormal.”
“Taylor [Swift] usually has two cars — her car that she’s in and a security car with her team,” the source added. “And if she’s going somewhere, she has a separate car on-site with her team already there, but they don’t travel together.”
The paparazzo mentioned other A-list celebrities and noted that “no one gets police escorts.”
“Meghan is out of control and over-the-top, and it’s ridiculous if the city is paying for this,” the source told the outlet. “And if NYPD was not on duty, then they shouldn’t be allowed to run lights. Somebody’s got to be paying for it.”
The outlet also noted that Prince Harry was not in attendance at the event.
Social media users also shared their reactions to the motorcade. “She’s completely ridiculous. The future Queen goes shopping in London and drives herself with no fuss. They really are a narcissistic pair of attention seekers!” one person <a href="https://x.com/according2_taz/status/1910752558819213488?s=43&amp;t=BDz6oekueqrSVJ50bM62xw">wrote</a>. 
“Of course she did — when your ego won’t fit in one car, a four-car motorcade is absolutely essential for a night at the theater!” another <a href="https://x.com/CandidCoverage/status/1911052666010304755">agreed</a>.
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Markle later posted about the show, sharing photos of herself backstage meeting the cast. “If you get a chance to see @gypsybway, you absolutely must. Congratulations to the tremendously talented cast and crew for creating magic on that stage,” the Duchess of Sussex wrote in the caption. 
&#8216;[Audra McDonald’s] performance will leave you absolutely speechless. Full body chills. I don&#8217;t think there was a dry eye in the house, and if the theater didn&#8217;t have to close for the night, the standing ovation would still be happening,” she continued.

Meghan Markle Mocked For Taking 4-Car Motorcade To Broadway Show: ‘Absolutely Abnormal’

Meghan Markle Mocked For Taking 4-Car Motorcade To Broadway Show: 'Absolutely Abnormal'

Broadway

New York

New York City

U.S.

The first episode of Meghan Markle’s new podcast just dropped, and it’s already getting obliterated by critics.
“Confessions of a Female Founder” is meant to highlight successful businesswomen and “inspire anyone who’s interested in turning their own entrepreneurial dreams into a reality.” But multiple reviews say the first episode, which focuses on Bumble dating app founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, is plagued by multiple issues.
Herd is a longtime friend of the Duchess of Sussex. Several critics note that the conversation is surface-level and too focused on Markle. The Times of London reviewer <a href="https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/meghan-podcast-review-confessions-female-founder-075z0m0sp">said</a> the episode contained nothing but “vapid lessons in self-love.”
“Predictably, she has nothing to say about real business problems such as logistics, management techniques or supply chain issues. Equally predictably, there is lots of guff about how to love yourself and spread positive energy through the world,” the reviewer added.  
“I suspect that this is not the sort of thing most small business people spend much time fretting over. But then Meghan’s business isn’t really a business. It’s a bit like the corporate equivalent of Marie Antoinette’s dairy farm — a pleasant game of make-believe for an idle rich woman.”
The Times reviewer also mocked Wolfe Herd for claiming to be on a “journey of self-love and self-discovery.”
“I’m going to foundationally re-architect the way people date and the way people love,” Wolfe Herd said during the episode.
“By this point I was seized by an urge to beat my head against the wall and foundationally re-architect my skull,” the reviewer wrote of that moment.
The Telegraph reviewer had similar <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2025/04/08/confessions-of-a-female-founder-podcast-meghan-review/">feedback</a>, saying the “Confessions” included an “inane stream of mindless aphorisms” and “no confessions or secrets.”
“The frustrating thing is that Wolfe Herd, who is just 35, presumably does have wisdom to impart, having been part of the team that created Tinder before she created Bumble,” the reviewer noted. “Imagine the drive, the talent, the decisions and sheer bloody ruthlessness it must take to achieve what she has. We get none of it.”
The reviewer from <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/2038917/meghan-markle-podcast-review">Express</a> said Markle steamrolled the whole thing. “Meghan takes control of the narrative early on in the episode. She bluntly directs the podcast by informing her friend of how she wants the conversation to be ‘relaxed and easy’ — which is normally a chat you would have with a guest behind-the-scenes instead of on-air for broadcast,” the reviewer noted. 
Despite the criticism, “Confessions” debuted in the top 10 chart in all categories on Apple Podcasts on its first day of release Tuesday. It sits at <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/charts">number four</a> on the Apple Podcast Top Charts list.
Markle’s previous Spotify podcast, “Archetypes,” was canceled after one season. The former working royal also got mixed reviews for her new lifestyle series on Netflix, “With Love, Meghan,” and her product line called As Ever.

Meghan Markle’s New Podcast Trashed By Critics: ‘Vapid Lessons In Self-Love’

Meghan Markle's New Podcast Trashed By Critics: 'Vapid Lessons In Self-Love'

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