Highlights
- Harry and Meghan are moving to the UK with Archie and Lilibet after six years in Montecito, California.
- The move follows Harry’s reconciliation push with cancer-stricken King Charles and the Invictus 2027 push.
- Netflix canceled Meghan’s lifestyle show; the couple keeps Montecito and their Archewell Productions deal.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are returning to the United Kingdom, a source familiar with the couple’s plans tells NBC News — bringing children Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, along for the ride. The family has been planted in Montecito, California since 2020, and had seemingly made America their forever-home. Apparently not.
King Charles was informed of the move on Sunday, Aug. 16. Note the sequencing: the family visited Charles and Camilla at Highgrove in July, and the move was decidedly not on the agenda. The king was told by phone, not face-to-face. Royal informality at its finest.
As of now, Harry and Meghan will continue to be non-working royals and private individuals, the source says. So they’ll be in Britain, but not of Britain. A very Sussex-specific loophole.
The timing is not accidental. In a May 2025 BBC interview, Harry said he “would love reconciliation” with his family. “There’s no point in continuing to fight. Life is precious.” Charles’s cancer diagnosis accelerated the thawing. In September of 2025, the father and son reunited for the first time after 19 months apart.
India McTaggart, a royal correspondent at The Telegraph, told NBC News that moving to the U.K. has been a longtime wish of Harry’s. “He’s made, you know, no secret of his intention to want to bring his children here to reunite them with the king, his father, and the Spencer side of the family, and just have a place where he can come to the U.K. without the circus of his arrival,” McTaggart said.
Without the circus. In 2026. Sure.
People reports that the entire family will establish a base in the country, with Archie and Lilibet preparing to attend school there. The property’s location has been withheld for security reasons. No Frogmore this time — King Charles asked them to vacate the Windsor residence following the publication of Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare. What a fun detail to live with.
The Invictus Games angle is impossible to ignore. “Prince Harry desperately wants Charles at Invictus — and he wants him to open the games alongside him,” a source recently told The Sun. “Harry wants it to happen both for the games, and for their relationship. It’s his dream to have his father by his side.” The 2027 Games are in Birmingham. A father-son moment on a British stage would be, conveniently, the perfect PR reset.
Meanwhile, the American venture isn’t looking its strongest. After ratings cratered in the second half of 2025, there are no plans for a third season of their cooking show With Love, Meghan. According to a source, Netflix “cut ties” with Meghan because her show was “not performing well.” The streamer gave away “truckloads of her product to employees” after the lifestyle series ended.
Truckloads of jam. Let that image breathe.
The transition back to Britain “will last for an extended period,” and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will maintain their home in Montecito, Calif. Harry and Meghan have no imminent plans to relocate or disband their content shop, Archewell Productions. Same goes for As Ever, Meghan’s consumer lifestyle brand. They want credit for going home without actually going all the way.
As for William: Harry’s relationship with his brother remains fraught as they “haven’t spoken in years.”
So — new house, school enrollment, a carefully managed palace rapprochement, no working royal duties, and the spectre of an awkward school run somewhere in the English countryside. “The way the wind is blowing, he’s going to want to be here more and more,” said one source ominously.
Britain: brace yourself. The Sussexes are coming, cameras probably optional — for now.
