Victoria Ward
London: It has been a tumultuous few years for Prince Harry. There have been allegations of racism, neglect and fights over a dog bowl.
But now, he’s ready to go home.
It has long been known that the Duke of Sussex wanted a refuge in the United Kingdom, a place that would enable him to bring his family over without having to go cap in hand to his father, King Charles, to ask whether there was room at the palace.
He wanted the freedom to enjoy British summers, see friends and come and go without the “circus” that has surrounded recent visits – as well as the endless questions about whether he will meet the King, where he might stay and his security.
But what is planned goes far beyond a mere bolthole for flying visits.
While nothing is set in stone, the decision to enrol his children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, in a British school suggests the plan is to stay for a long time.
Whether it will work remains to be seen. Harry and his wife, Meghan, are clearly hedging their bets by keeping their US base in Montecito, despite the vast expense, at least for now.
The development marks a significant shift in the Sussexes’ private and professional lives and will have a notable impact on their relationship with the wider royal institution.
The King was only informed of the news on Sunday, and it was not discussed with him during his reunion with the Sussexes at Highgrove last month.
He is said to be “naturally pleased” to be able to spend more time with his younger son and his family. However, he remains adamant that the move will not change the couple’s status as private individuals and non-working royals.
Until now, the major stumbling block to their coming back has been the family’s security.
The duke’s efforts to have his right to guaranteed taxpayer-funded police protection reinstated have been stymied at every turn, in the High Court, in the Court of Appeal and by the Home Office committee responsible for such decisions.
He has insisted it remains too dangerous to bring his wife and children back to the UK without it – a stance that threw the family’s recent travel plans into chaos, prompting Meghan to pull out of two public engagements and be spirited into the country privately with their children for that all-important reunion with the King.
It is ultimately up to the British state, through its royal and VIP executive committee, to decide who gets police protection.
So far, the committee has insisted that the duke and his family must give 30 days’ notice of UK visits so each can be assessed on its merits, a “bespoke” arrangement through which they have largely been denied protection. There is no detail on any new plan.
What has prompted this apparent about-face and how would it work?
A potential move out of the US has been on the cards for some time. The Sussexes bought a luxury villa in Portugal in 2023.
They are said to have paid £6.3 million ($12 million) for the property, in the wealthy enclave of Costa Terra, a private golf and leisure resort in Melides, a little over 100 kilometres south of Lisbon. It happens to count Jack Brooksbank, husband of Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie, among its employees. Jack and Eugenie also have a home there, where they spend much of the year.
The duke and duchess spent a couple of weeks on holiday in Portugal recently, ahead of their visit to the UK, and are keen to return more often.
Portugal is also friendly towards US citizens who want to make the country their home, with a generous “golden visa” program for wealthy immigrants that allows easy access to all of the EU.
The duke has made no secret of his desire for his children to experience life in the UK – to understand their British heritage, and the country’s culture and customs, beyond simply pronouncing zebra in the English way.
On a more personal level, he simply wants them to enjoy a relationship with his own family, his maternal aunts and uncle with whom he remains close, and hopefully, his father.
When they moved abroad, the duke and duchess were told in no uncertain terms that the “half in, half out” approach they wanted to adopt was out of the question.
The late Queen was adamant, saying they could not promote charitable endeavours on behalf of the Crown while pursuing commercial interests.
Over in the US, the couple became involved with a handful of grassroots organisations, but Archewell, their philanthropic vehicle, has faded into the shadows.
The duke tried to get on board with the showbiz lark. Yes, there was money to be made, but his heart was never in it. The Netflix deals, Spotify, podcasts … they were never really his thing.
Harry has long wanted to give more time and energy to his UK charities, while Meghan continues to be busy with As Ever, her lifestyle business.
He loves being in the UK. He loves spending time with the Invictus community, as well as the children of Scotty’s Little Soldiers and WellChild.
Last year, he donated £1 million to Children in Need and pledged his continued support for youth charities in Nottingham.
The couple believe they have proved they can make an independent living while still supporting their charitable causes.
A successful visit to Australia in April was held up as an example of this model in action. Their charitable endeavours remain independent, as opposed to so-called “representative duties” on behalf of the institution.
Why come back now? The American dream is perhaps not all it’s cracked up to be in Donald Trump’s US. It is no secret that the couple’s politics do not align with the president’s.
The duke and duchess enjoy their freedom in the Californian sunshine, the walks on the beach, swimming in the sea, surfing and the space to move around with relative freedom.
But for the duke, at least, it is a long way from home.
Meghan, who has always made a virtue of being entwined with her “love”, appears to be taking one for the team.
What are her own motivations to return to a country that holds less than happy memories? Only time will tell.
The lure of her favoured radio station, Magic FM, and her affection for the quaint British tradition of Christmas crackers are unlikely to be enough.
The duchess has been scathing about much of her time within the royal fold, which she revealed in 2021 had pushed her to contemplate suicide.
She also struggled to get to grips with certain elements of British life, such as the “stiff upper lip”. She once suggested that she would never be able to do the school run in the UK without it turning into a media frenzy.
Harry, though, is convinced that the negative narrative is at odds with how his wife is perceived.
The couple are, for now, keeping the location of their new UK base private.
Their last British home was Frogmore Cottage on the Windsor estate, which was given to them as a wedding present by Elizabeth II in May 2018.
However, they were evicted in early summer 2023, rendering them “homeless” when on UK soil.
Harry has been offered accommodation at Buckingham Palace more than once but has turned it down over security concerns.
Last month’s debacle over accommodation proved the last straw. The duke had been forced to request access to an apartment on one of the royal estates, or otherwise stay with friends or at a hotel.
The couple had previously rented a four-bed farmhouse on the Great Tew Estate in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds. It was used as a rural escape from Nottingham Cottage, the Kensington Palace property where Harry lived when the couple first met.
They had to give up the country bolthole when paparazzi took aerial shots of it in January 2019.
On the couple’s most recent visit last month, they stayed with Earl Spencer, the duke’s uncle, on his Althorp estate in Northamptonshire.
While the duke has remained close to the Spencers, his late mother’s side of the family, he has made no secret of his desire to reconcile with the other side.
He admitted in 2023 that he hoped he would one day be “joined at the hip” with Prince William again.
But he suggested there needed to be “conversations in order for reconciliation”, which had to involve his family taking their share of accountability.
The Prince and Princess of Wales long ago cut off contact with the Sussexes, feeling deeply betrayed by the private family revelations and allegations aired in public.
Last May, the duke told the BBC that he would “love” a reconciliation with his family.
“There’s no point in continuing to fight,” he said, acknowledging that, while he could “forgive” his father, brother and stepmother for the many disagreements of the past, “some members of the royal family” would never forgive him for writing a memoir, or for “lots of things”.
His father’s cancer diagnosis, unsurprisingly, appears to have been a wake-up call.
His relationship with the King is perhaps much warmer than many realise.
With the legal battle over security in the past, the pair are regularly in touch, and the duke is delighted that his father has shown an interest in his life abroad.
His relationship with his stepmother, Camilla, is a different story entirely, and he has made no secret of his feelings.
He has described the Queen as “the villain” in his parents’ marriage, whose need to rehabilitate her image made her “dangerous” because of her connections within the British press.
Harry has wrestled with all of these feelings since moving abroad.
There can be no doubt that the pull of the UK has been strong.
Last year, he said he had always loved his country and missed “parts of the UK” and admitted that the thought he would not be able to show his children his “homeland” had brought him much sadness.
The Sussexes’ imminent relocation will at least begin to reverse that tide.
The Telegraph, London
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