The Sussexes are coming home. In a shock announcement on Wednesday, it was revealed that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are moving back to the U.K. for an “extended period” with their two young children after six years of living in California.
But after the pair’s dramatic exit from royal life in 2020, will England — and the rest of their family — welcome them back with open arms?
According to the BBC, Harry and Meghan’s decision to move back was made relatively recently, with King Charles only being informed of the news on Sunday. Their visit to the U.K. in July was a turning point, royal watchers believe, as they spent time with the King and also the family of Harry’s late mother Princess Diana, some of whom 7-year-old Archie and 5-year-old Lilibet met for the first time.
“I think they had a really good trip here in the summer,” Sky News royal reporter, Laura Bundock, tells Variety. “Harry isn’t homesick, but I certainly think he wants his kids to understand more about British history and his homeland.”
Their children’s education has also been a consideration for the move. The BBC said that Archie and Lilibet have both been enrolled in school in the U.K., and as most new terms start by mid-September, it’s expected that the family will settle in over the next couple of weeks.
Though the King has welcomed the move to spend more time with Harry and his family, the BBC reported that it was a surprise to him and he had no involvement in the decision. King Charles was diagnosed with cancer in 2024, and though his treatment is said to be going well, Harry admitted in a BBC interview last year that he wanted to reconcile with him, saying: “I don’t know how much longer my father has.”
Harry’s brother, Prince William, is a different story. The two’s relationship has been said to be severely damaged following the 2023 publication of Harry’s memoir, “Spare,” and the bombshell 2021 interview he and Meghan did with Oprah Winfrey in which they leveled allegations of racism and mistreatment against unnamed members of the royal family. “Their friendship circles and acquaintances overlap to some extent,” says Bundock. “But I think to say that this is a moment of great reconciliation between those feuding brothers is far from reality.”
Harry and Meghan’s announcement on Wednesday also made it clear that they will not be returning to their royal duties in any capacity now that they will be living in the U.K. They will live as private citizens — likely outside of London, according to the BBC — and continue their endeavors in production with Archewell as well as Meghan’s lifestyle brand As Ever. It’s possible they could expand these operations outside of the U.S., but they will stay headquartered in America. They also will not be selling their Montecito home, leaving the door open for an eventual return.
But as Bundock points out, when Harry is carrying out philanthropic endeavours in the U.K., it may not always be obvious to the casual observer that he is not technically there in a royal capacity. “When you’re looking at Harry, for example, on an Invictus [Games] engagement, it looks, to all intents and purposes, like a royal engagement. He is still a member of the royal family. He’s just not a working royal.” It’s a situation that may well cause tension within the royal households, particularly as the senior royals coordinate their diaries behind the scenes (to ensure no one steals the limelight from each other) in deference to the King.
While Harry and Meghan’s Hollywood ambitions were said to be a key reason behind their original move to California, Archewell Productions and its deal with Netflix has been the subject of scrutiny in recent years. Though the pact remains in tact, sources told Variety in a story about the couple’s deal with the streamer: “The mood in the building is, ‘We’re done.’” (In March, it was announced that the duo is developing a film adaptation of the Afghan war memoir “No Way Out: The Searing True Story of Men Under Siege” for Netflix.) Other lucrative opportunities have also fallen by the wayside, including a deal with Spotify reported to be worth $20 million that yielded just one show.
Then there’s the issue of security and privacy for the Sussexes while in the U.K. It has long been a sore spot for Harry that while in the country, he has not been given the official police protection afforded to working royals (Harry’s cousins do not get protection). In California, the family hired their own private security team.
Last year, Harry lost a legal battle for higher security protections in the U.K., and told the BBC: “I can’t see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the U.K. at this point.” Perhaps something has now changed, although U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Thursday that he hasn’t been made privy to any decision on security matters — nor would he be as that is decided by the Royal and VIP Executive Committee, an independent body. “It’s a matter for Harry and for Meghan, and we wish them well in the move that they are making,” Burnham said (via BBC).
The couple’s move is also somewhat surprising as just last month Harry lost his long-running privacy case against Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the tabloid Daily Mail. He was among a group of high-profile figures, including Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley, who accused the publication of unlawful information gathering, including phone-hacking. Associated Newspapers strongly denied this, and ultimately a judge ruled that the plaintiffs failed to prove their claims. Along with the other claimants, he’s expected to have to pay a hefty sum, which will be decided at a hearing on a later date.
It’s one of several privacy lawsuits Harry brought against tabloids over the past few years concerning his treatment in the media, and with the couple back on U.K. soil, it’s possible that this could become an issue once again.
Bundock points out that the couple have not always helped themselves by airing their many grievances in public, whether it was their Oprah interview, their six-part Netflix series “Harry & Meghan” or Harry’s memoir, all of which contained deeply intimate details about life within the royal family, who for the most part remain beloved — or at least respected — in the U.K. “The way they’ve aired these very personal grievances so publicly caused absolutely catastrophic problems and created such suspicion and mistrust, not just within the family but within the wider public as well,” she says. “So they’ve got work to do, winning over everyone.”
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