Prince Harry, Meghan Markle to Move Back to the U.K.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are to leave the U.S. and return to the U.K., the BBC reported on Wednesday.

Their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, have apparently been enrolled in a British school in September, according to U.K. media reports that first appeared in the Daily Telegraph, the outlet stated. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expected to live in a private residence outside London, without Royal trappings.

The couple are also expected to keep their home in California and another in Portugal, according to the Daily Telegraph, as Britain once again becomes their main residence. King Charles was told of the planned move over the weekend. And Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have no plans to once again take up senior Royal duties.

At the same time, the return to Britain for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex marks a major and surprise move as they continue to carve out a life, and careers, for themselves outside of the Royal family. The return across the Atlantic also follows Netflix downgrading its overall deal with the pair that birthed Harry & Meghan, Polo and With Love, Meghan, among other projects, to a first-look deal.

That new deal includes Prince Harry and Markle’s Archewell Productions teaming with the streamer on a series about polo. And Netflix also announced it was exiting Markle’s lifestyle brand As Ever as a business partner. 

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle first moved to a home in Montecito, California, about 80 miles north of Los Angeles, in 2020. At the time, the couple quit as working royals and agreed to no longer use the titles “royal highness” or receive public funds for their work under a deal reached with Buckingham Palace.

That followed Prince Harry marrying Markle in 2018. It’s not known whether the return of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex might be part of an elusive reconciliation between the couple and wider Royal Family.

The once-tight brothers Prince Harry and Prince William have been estranged since Harry began to air his grievances over the treatment of his wife as she began life as a royal ahead of their move to California.

Prince Harry was recently in London at the High Court to testify in a trial against the publisher of the Daily Mail, Associated Newspapers Limited, that he and a fellow litigant lost.