Prince Harry and Meghan Are Moving Back to the UK — Without a Royal Role
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are relocating to Britain with their two children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, later this month — six years after they left for California and stepped down as working royals. Their children are already enrolled to start at a UK school in September, according to Town & Country. Reuters confirmed the family plans to stay for an extended period.
The couple did not announce the move themselves. The news surfaced through reports in the Daily Telegraph, The Sun, and People magazine rather than through a statement from the Sussexes' spokesperson.
King Charles III was informed of the plan on a Sunday and did not discuss it during the family's visit to the UK in July, Town & Country reported. The king welcomes the chance to see more of the Sussex family privately. But he has been clear on one point: there will be no change to Harry and Meghan's status as non-working royals. No half-in, half-out arrangement is on the table.
That phrase — "half-in, half-out" — refers to the compromise Harry and Meghan sought in early 2020, when they proposed keeping some royal duties while earning independent income. Queen Elizabeth II rejected it then. King Charles is holding the same line now.
Harry has rekindled his relationship with his father but remains estranged from his brother, Prince William, according to Town & Country.
Where the family will live has not been disclosed, for security reasons. Their previous UK home, Frogmore Cottage — a residence on the Windsor Castle estate — was theirs before the 2020 departure. In March 2023, Charles asked them to vacate it. Buckingham Palace said in July that Harry will not stay at Buckingham Palace, and that he had not responded to an offer of accommodation at a royal residence by a set deadline, the BBC reported.
The security question looms. Harry has previously said he did not feel able to bring his family to the UK without guaranteed police protection, and he altered plans for the family's July visit when it became clear full police protection would not be provided. The UK Home Office — the government department responsible for policing — has not changed its decision against giving Harry guaranteed police security while in Britain.
Harry and Meghan moved to California in March 2020 after stepping down as senior working royals — members of the family who carry out official duties on behalf of the monarch, funded through the Sovereign Grant, the taxpayer payment that supports the royal family's official work. Since then, they have built a life in Montecito, signed production deals, and spoken publicly about their reasons for leaving.
The return does not restore what they gave up. No royal duties, no public funding, no place on the Buckingham Palace balcony. What it does restore is proximity — to a father and king who wants to see his son, and to a country the couple left under a global spotlight.
