Six years after stepping away from their roles as senior working members of Britain’s royal family and starting a new life in California, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are preparing for a remarkable change of direction: a return to the UK with their two children.
The move does not signal a return to royal duties, but it marks a significant reversal for a couple whose departure was followed by explosive interviews, a Netflix documentary, Harry’s tell-all memoir and years of legal and personal battles with the royal establishment.
Their planned return also comes amid signs of a possible thaw in relations with the royal family, including a recent reunion with King Charles.
The rupture began on Jan. 8, 2020, when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their intention to step back as “senior members” of the British royal family.
The announcement followed reports that the couple would relinquish their royal roles and move to Canada, claims Buckingham Palace declined to address at the time.
After spending several months in Canada before moving to the US, Harry and Meghan bought a home in Montecito, California, in June 2020.
Buckingham Palace confirmed in February 2021 that they would not return as working members of the royal family.
In March 2021, a year after their departure, CBS aired Oprah with Meghan and Harry, an interview in which the couple made some of their most serious allegations against the royal family.
Meghan accused the institution of failing to protect her and said she experienced suicidal thoughts while pregnant with Archie. She also alleged that there had been discussions within the royal family about her unborn child’s skin color.
“In those months when I was pregnant ... we have in tandem the conversation of, you won’t be given security, not going to be given a title and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born,” she said.
Meghan declined to identify the person involved, saying “that would be very damaging to them.”
“I just didn’t want to be alive anymore. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought,” she said, adding that she sought help from within the institution but was denied it.
Harry, meanwhile, described the intense scrutiny the couple faced and the circumstances surrounding their exit.
Buckingham Palace later said on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II that the issues raised, particularly those involving race, would be addressed privately. Prince William subsequently rejected the allegations of racism.
The couple gave a more detailed account of their relationship and departure in the six-part Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan, released in 2022.
The series became the UK’s most-watched Netflix premiere of 2022 and recorded 81.6 million viewing hours worldwide in its first four days, the platform’s biggest debut for a documentary at the time.
In the series, Harry said: “My job is to keep my family safe. But the nature of being born into this position ... and the level of hate that is being stirred up in the last three years especially against my wife and my son, I’m generally concerned for the safety of my family.”
He said it was his “duty to uncover this exploitation and bribery that happens within our media.”
Meghan said she believed that “no matter how hard I tried, no matter how good I was, no matter what I did, they (the media) were still going to find a way to destroy me.”
Further revelations followed in January 2023 with the publication of Harry’s memoir, Spare, which offered a deeply personal account of his deteriorating relationships with senior members of the royal family.
In the more than 550-page book, Harry described a 2019 confrontation in which William allegedly called Meghan “difficult,” “rude” and “abrasive,” language Harry characterized as a “parrot(ing of) the press narrative” about his wife.
Harry also alleged that William “knocked me to the floor” during the confrontation.
He recounted learning of Queen Elizabeth’s death while traveling to Balmoral and said Charles had told him Meghan should not accompany him.
Harry said his father phoned him: “He told me I was welcome at Balmoral, but … without her. He started to explain his reasons, but they didn’t make any sense at all, and it was disrespectful as well. I did not tolerate it from him.”
The couple’s planned return has revived questions about their publicly funded protection in Britain, which was downgraded after they stopped serving as working royals in 2020.
Harry and Meghan pay for private protection in the US. Their return, however, could require the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (RAVEC), an independent body overseen by the Home Office, to reconsider arrangements that were based on the couple being only occasional visitors to Britain, according to the BBC.
RAVEC had maintained that Harry’s security needs should be assessed on a case-by-case basis. He lost a legal challenge last year over the level of protection provided to him and his family while visiting the UK.
As neither Harry nor Meghan is expected to resume royal duties, they may not regain the level of security they had before their departure.
Asked about the issue Wednesday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham described the couple’s security arrangements as a “private matter.”
Harry and Meghan attended Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in September 2022 while visiting Britain. Harry returned alone for his father’s coronation the following year and did not sit alongside other senior royals.
In February 2024, he traveled from the US to see Charles after he was diagnosed with cancer. More than a year later, they held another brief meeting in London.
Last month, Charles hosted Harry, Meghan and their children at Highgrove House. It was the monarch’s first meeting with Harry’s family in years and was viewed as a significant step toward repairing their relationship.
Harry has also returned to London several times since 2020 for charity events and court hearings related to his privacy case against Associated Newspapers.
According to media reports, the couple are due to move back to Britain later this month, with their children, Archie and Lilibet, expected to begin school in Britain in September.
Charles was reportedly informed of the decision last Sunday. There are no plans for either Harry or Meghan to resume duties as working royals.
Reports citing royal commentators said the family’s July visit was significant because the children were able to meet relatives they had rarely seen since the move to California.
According to the BBC, the decision was not driven by problems in the US but by the couple’s desire to spend more time in Europe, live closer to Harry’s family and educate their children in Britain.
Their precise destination has not been disclosed, although they are not expected to live in London. The Telegraph reported that they plan to settle in a “private, non-royal residence” near the capital.
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