Peripatetic duo Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are preparing to farewell their Montecito mansion in California and return to the UK, multiple media reports detailed Thursday.
The couple intend to relocate from the U.S. later this month to a private, non-Royal residence outside London as first reported by the Daily Telegraph and the Sun newspapers.
The couple’s children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, will accompany them. They are enrolled to start at a British school when the new academic year begins in September.
The BBC reports King Charles was only told of the move on Sunday. There are no current plans for either Prince Harry or Meghan to resume their roles as working Royals as they reportedly continue to seek a life out of the public eye.
No change is expected to their official House of Windsor status and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will remain as private individuals while retaining their privileged titles.
As Breitbart News reported, the Sussexes left the UK and retreated from their Royal duties in early 2020, before settling in California in March that year.
The couple decamped to Montecito via Canada and quickly settled into the celebrity lifestyle offered by the elites they surrounded themselves with in the California enclave.
They sought to earn their living through lucrative contracts with Netflix and Spotify as well as Meghan’s home products via her As Ever company.
Harry reportedly described his life in the public eye and Royal Family as being “trapped within this bubble” which impacted his mental health.
Their ties to the UK since have been brief and fraught with problems.
Prince Harry’s recent July visit was overshadowed by his High Court loss in a privacy case brought against Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.
Prince Harry reportedly described his life in the public eye and Royal Family as being “trapped within this bubble” which impacted his mental health. (Pic via Comedy Central)
The Royal heir and several other well-known figures claimed the newspaper group used unlawful methods for getting information for stories, allegations which were strenuously denied by Associated Newspapers.
The defeat means Harry is facing a potential bill for millions of pounds after the court ruled he and other plaintiffs in the case were liable for the publisher’s legal fees.
Associated Newspapers has filed documents showing that its legal costs amounted to 34.5 million pounds ($47 million).
Harry has complained of press intrusion into his relationship with Meghan many times and told the court in January: “They’ve made my wife’s life an absolute misery.”
He has also said he finds time in the national capital a challenge.
Now he returns to live in the land of his birth with his wife and family alongside.
Despite ruling out a return to a Royal working life, Harry still shows no desire however to relinquish his title, its privilege, and place as fifth in the line of succession to his father King Charles III.