Prince Harry and his wife Meghan plan to move back to Britain this month, six years after stepping down from royal duties and relocating to the United States, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing media outlets. According to Reuters, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are moving with Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, from California to the UK for an extended period, with the children due to begin school there in September. The report cited People magazine and the Telegraph as the original sources of the information.
Reuters said there was no comment from Harry's spokesperson or from Buckingham Palace, but reported that a source close to the couple had confirmed the accuracy of the reports. Citing the Telegraph, Reuters said the couple would not live in a royal residence and would remain non-working royals, in line with the arrangement agreed with the late Queen Elizabeth when they stepped back in March 2020.
Background to the family rift
Harry married Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle in 2018, a union Reuters said had been hoped to reinvigorate the monarchy. Strains in the couple's relationship with the rest of the royal family emerged within two years, and in March 2020 they announced their departure from official duties and their move to the United States, settling in Montecito, near Santa Barbara, California, in a property media reports have valued at $14.7 million.
In the years since, Reuters reported, Harry and Meghan have repeatedly criticised the royal family and the monarchy, including in television interviews, a Netflix documentary series and, most notably, in Harry's memoir Spare. During a 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Reuters said Meghan had claimed an unnamed member of the family had asked how dark their son Archie's skin might be, a claim Prince William denied applied more broadly to the royals. Harry has also directed sharp criticism at his father, King Charles, and at William, contributing to a serious breakdown in their relationship. Reuters said Harry had also expressed anger over the British government's decision to change his security arrangements, saying the resulting lack of automatic police protection had made it difficult to bring his children to Britain.
Relations with the king have shown signs of improvement
Reuters reported that ties with the king have shown signs of thawing since September, when father and son met for the first time in twenty months. Charles was diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer in 2024, and said in a televised address in December that he had responded well to treatment. Reuters said Harry, Meghan and their children visited Britain last month, during which Charles saw his grandchildren for the first time since 2022, though the king reportedly only learned of the couple's plans to return on Sunday. Relations between Harry and William, Reuters said, remain strained.
Media ventures produced mixed results
Since relocating to California, Harry and Meghan have pursued a series of media projects, including a podcast deal with Spotify and programming for Netflix, among them a lifestyle show hosted by Meghan. Reuters said the results have been mixed: Harry's memoir was a bestseller, but the podcast deal ended and Meghan's Netflix show was not renewed beyond two seasons. Dominic Patten, executive editor of the entertainment publication Deadline, told Reuters the couple had not achieved the level of recognition they had been aiming for, though he said they had succeeded in maintaining public interest in their story.
