THE RUNDOWN
- Sources spoke more about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s decision to move back to the U.K.
- The insiders addressed why Meghan agreed to return after struggling with her mental health when she originally lived there.
- They also discussed the other factors that contributed to the couple’s choice, along with why Meghan and Harry’s plans to stay in Britain remain fluid.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are moving back to the U.K., their rep confirmed earlier this week. While the couple hasn’t spoken about the decision themselves, insiders close to them detailed their reasoning to People. They shed light on why Meghan agreed to go back, after speaking out in 2021 about her extreme mental health struggles due to the harassment she received while living there.
A source said it was a decision “taken as a family.” A Montecito insider added that Meghan in particular was thinking about what time in the U.K. could offer their children, Archie and Lilibet. “Meghan feels very fortunate that they’re able to give Archie and Lilibet the opportunity to experience both worlds,” the source said.
Meghan and Harry’s rep hinted at this in a statement confirming the move, telling The New York Times, “On the heels of a wonderful trip with family and friends this summer, Harry and Meghan have decided to spend an extended period in the U.K. this autumn. They are excited to have their children spend more time in the country that’s such an important part of their family’s story.”
Multiple sources told People that the move had been “in the works for about a year,” and the political climate in the U.S. was a factor in their decision. Harry’s desire to be back in Britain contributed, too; California insiders shared that the Duke of Sussex had “struggled to establish a close social circle of his own” in Montecito, where the couple has lived since 2020.
A source close to Meghan and Harry added, “Harry never really stopped missing home. He’s missed that sense of connection and belonging. Britain is still home in many ways.”
In her August 2022 interview with The Cut, Meghan discussed how harassment from British tabloids led her and Harry to leave the U.K. in the first place. As working royals, they had wanted the option to make their own money so their lives would no longer be taxpayer-funded and thus open to tabloid attacks “under the guise of public interest,” she explained. If they paid their own way, “then maybe all the noise would stop.”
The couple had been willing to relocate to another Commonwealth country to do this. “Anything to just…because just by existing, we were upsetting the dynamic of the hierarchy,” she said. “So we go, ‘Okay, fine, let’s get out of here. Happy to.’”
The royal family rejected their half-in, half-out approach to royal work, leading the couple to step back from their senior working royal roles completely and move to the U.S. in 2020.
A source close to Meghan remains concerned about how she’ll fare in Britain this fall. “My biggest concern is the level of media attention she’ll face in the U.K.,” the insider told People. “I’m worried for her.”
An ally added that Meghan, Harry, and their children will be private citizens this time, and the Duchess of Sussex’s network is better prepared and “stronger now than it ever was to protect her—to protect them.”
The move isn’t permanent, either, multiple sources stressed, describing the couple’s plans as fluid. “It’s not necessarily a forever thing,” one insider said.
They have not bought property in the U.K. and will retain their Montecito home.
Security may also influence the duration of their move, sources said, noting that the family does not have police protection in the U.K., and private security cannot carry firearms there. The couple has armed security in the U.S.
The family is set to return to the U.K. in late August before their children begin school in September.
