Prince Harry and Meghan Relocate to the UK with Archie and Lilibet Enrolled in British Schools

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are relocating to the UK with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, for an extended period, with the children enrolled in British schools. People reported the move exclusively on 19 August 2026. HELLO! confirmed the following day that the family will return by September.

The move comes nearly six years after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back as working royals and took up residence in the United States. Harry will not resume official royal duties in connection with the relocation, according to People. The distinction matters: "working royal" denotes a member of the royal family who carries out public duties on behalf of the monarch and receives funding through the Sovereign Grant — the annual payment drawn from a set percentage of Crown Estate profits.

Archie, born in the UK in 2019, and Lilibet, born in California in 2021, have not been back to Britain since 2022. Harry had not brought the children to the UK in the intervening years, a fact noted by Page Six in July 2026, which also reported that a source said Harry "desperately wants" to bring his children back.

The shift is a sharp turn from Harry's position in a 2025 BBC interview, when he said he could not see a world where he would bring his wife and children back to the UK, citing security concerns. He lamented then that Archie and Lilibet would never know his homeland. "I miss the UK. I miss parts of the UK, of course I do," he told the BBC. "And I think that it's quite sad that I won't be able to show my…" — the sentence trailed off in the broadcast.

The seeds of the relocation may have been visible earlier. At the WellChild Awards in September 2025, Harry spoke with the British singer Joss Stone about her own decision to move back to the UK after living in Nashville for several years. Stone told HELLO! that Harry asked how her family was settling in and was "genuinely interested" in their move home. He praised British schools, she said, and spoke about the importance of community for children. He also joked that her four children were "two too many."

The Times reported on 16 August 2026 that Harry would return to the UK "more and more" over the coming year, following what the paper described as a successful family reunion with the King. That report preceded the People and HELLO! confirmations by three and four days respectively.

For the children, the relocation means a first sustained experience of the country their father has spoken of missing. Archie was three when the family left for California; Lilibet has lived her entire life in the United States. What the return means for Harry and Meghan's public roles — beyond the confirmation that royal duties are not part of the plan — has not been stated by the household.