Prince Harry and Meghan reportedly plan return to Britain after six years in California
Prince Harry and Meghan are planning to return to Britain in August 2026 after six years living in the United States, according to a report published on 20 August by The Guardian.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex intend to live at a private, non-royal residence outside London while keeping their California home and a property in Portugal, The Guardian reported. Their two children — Prince Archie, aged seven, and Princess Lilibet, aged five — would make the move with them.
The reported plan comes weeks after a security dispute that nearly kept the family apart. On 19 June, The Telegraph reported that Harry and Meghan would stay at a royal residence with their children when they returned to the UK the following month. Ten days later, the same paper reported that Harry was reconsidering bringing his wife and children after learning they would not receive police protection. On 4 July, The Telegraph reported that Meghan, Archie and Lilibet would not travel to London that week after a request for protection was denied.
Harry filed a lawsuit against the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police in August 2022 over his UK security arrangements — the publicly funded protection he lost after stepping down as a working royal. That litigation has continued in the years since.
The couple's relationship with Britain has been strained since January 2020, when they announced they would step down as working royals, saying they intended to become financially independent while continuing to support the Queen. They moved to California in June 2020, settling in Montecito near Santa Barbara; media reports put the purchase price of their 16-bedroom home at $14.7 million.
In March 2021, Harry and Meghan sat down with Oprah Winfrey on CBS for an interview that drew a global audience. Meghan accused the royal family of fostering an atmosphere of racial hostility so intense that she came close to suicide while pregnant with Archie. She also said members of the family had expressed concerns about how dark their son's skin would be. Harry described the situation that drove them from royal life as "desperate." Queen Elizabeth responded with a statement saying the issues raised, particularly race, were concerning and would be addressed privately. Prince William told reporters the family was "very much not a racist family," as reported by NBC News.
Their daughter Lilibet was born in California in June 2021, named after the family nickname for the Queen. In September 2022, Queen Elizabeth died while Harry and Meghan were visiting London. They stayed for her funeral and, ahead of the service, joined the Prince and Princess of Wales in meeting wellwishers outside Windsor Castle — a brief, much-photographed show of unity.
In January 2023, Harry published his memoir, Spare, in which he recounted what he said was a physical attack by William during a 2019 confrontation at his London home. Harry wrote that William had called Meghan "difficult," "rude" and "abrasive." Four months later, Harry attended King Charles III's coronation alone; Meghan and the children remained in California. Harry walked into Westminster Abbey by himself and was seated two rows behind his brother.
Away from royal duties, the couple built a media business in California — and then trimmed it. The Duke and Duchess ended their podcasting partnership with Spotify in June 2023 after two and a half years, issuing a joint statement about the split, as reported by the BBC.
The Guardian's 20 August report does not specify an exact date for the family's arrival, the address of the non-royal residence, or whether the security arrangements that blocked Meghan and the children's travel in July have since changed.
