By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-19 21:47:05 | Updated at 2026-08-19 21:56:57
13 minutes ago
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are moving back to the United Kingdom this month - six years after leaving for the US.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are understood to be returning for an 'extended period', with Archie and Lilibet set to enrol at a British school.
The family will move into a non-royal residence and will not be working royals.
King Charles was only informed by his son on Sunday that he plans to move back to the UK later this month.
It is understood that while he 'welcomes' the chance to see Harry and his family in a private and personal capacity, the King is clear that there will be 'no alteration' to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's role and status as private individuals and non-working members of the Royal Family in keeping with their 'clearly expressed wishes and agreement over past years'.
Sources insist, however, it is not in the Sussexes’ ‘plan’ to the royal fold. The Mail also understands that no mention of the family’s return was raised or discussed when Harry, Meghan and their children met with the King at Highgrove earlier this summer.
This suggests that Charles may have been blindsided by their latest announcement.
Indeed, the Duke and Duchess last met the monarch and Queen Camilla at Highgrove, in Gloucestershire, last month - but are unlikely to have told them about their impending move.
Harry, 41, was already scheduled to visit the United Kingdom to attend a WellChild Awards bash next month and was set to stay in a room at Buckingham Palace.
But the Duke and Duchess no longer require accommodation for their patronages with the whole family believed to be returning within the next two weeks.
Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, are thought to have already enrolled at a British school - and the family are reportedly planning to stay until the children finish education.
Harry and Meghan are set to retain their £11million home in Montecito, California, which they have lived in since moving across the pond in 2020. They also still own a residence in Portugal.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are reportedly moving back to the United Kingdom this month - six years after leaving for the US
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are said to be moving back to the United Kingdom before the end of the month
And Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, are thought to have already enrolled in a British school
The surprise news comes six years after the couple left Britons in disbelief when they stepped down as working royals.
Harry and Meghan were blasted at the time for failing to consult Charles, Camilla or Prince William before announcing their exit.
Their dramatic decision was taken without the knowledge of their family, who learnt about the announcement as it broke on television news in February 13, 2020.
The couple were accused 'press[ing] the nuclear button' and made the bombshell announcement just days after returning from a six-week break in Canada. They later permanently moved to California in March, 2020 in a move that was widely dubbed 'Megxit'.
More recently, royal aides who accused Meghan Markle of bullying them said they were frightened of 'what she would do to them' after they spoke out, it was claimed.
The Duchess of Sussex's staff were left 'in a psychologically delicate state' and 'viewed her capacity for revenge as infinite', an expert has alleged.
Meghan, 43, has always denied the allegations of bullying while she was working as a royal, which she described as an orchestrated smear campaign against her.
Veteran royal correspondent Valentine Low broke the bullying story in May 2021, just before Harry and Meghan were to appear on screen with Oprah Winfrey to discuss Megxit.
He claims that some of the royal staff who had worked with the Sussexes were still in a 'very fragile state' more than two years later - and despite the royal couple having emigrated 5,000 miles away to the US.
'They were very worried about what Meghan would do to them. They viewed her capacity for revenge as infinite', Mr Low said.
'They'd left the employ of the Royal Family and they still were in a psychologically delicate state as a result of what happened to them at that time'.
King Charles is understood to have found out about his son's impending move back to Britain on Sunday
Meghan and Harry are set to keep hold of their £11million mansion in Calafornia
It is not yet known where Harry and Meghan will be living when they move later this month
He added: 'If they [the Sussexes] were difficult to work for then, they're difficult to work for now'.
Mr Low was speaking to American royal commentator Kinsey Schofield's Unfiltered YouTube show.
He told her that he believes that Harry and Meghan tried to stop and then discredit his story detailing allegations of bullying, adding that he believes that the fact they have lost 25 staff since 2017 shows they remain tough to work for.
'It was a very important factor, the litigious nature of Harry and Meghan. I had sight of various bits of documentary evidence. I saw things which totally backed up the story. I had utter confidence', he said.
'Before publication we put the allegations to Harry and Meghan and we got a very very long letter from their lawyers. Sometime later we got another slightly less long letter from their lawyers. It was very very feisty, very strong, saying basically 'watch out'.
'Then we published and after that we didn't hear a word from them'.
Valentine said the story had to be published before the Oprah interview.
In May, it was claimed Meghan's absence from the Met Gala as well as Saturday Night Live's brutal takedown of the Duchess of Sussex was proof she had burned bridges in the US.
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams believes the Duchess of Sussex has developed a 'disastrous habit of falling out with Hollywood’s top power brokers'.
‘An appearance at the Met Gala would have given her a boost. Where were the Sussexes? To reportedly fall out with Lauren Sanchez Bezos, the Kardashians and the iconic Dame Anna Wintour is quite a feat,' he said.
While veteran royal biographer Phil Dampier said: 'I think people in America have generally fallen out of love with Harry and Meghan'.
Meghan is said to be 'spiralling badly because she knows nothing is working' in TV and business with a well-placed LA source adding of the Sussexes last week: 'I don’t think either of them are happy.'
But it got worse over the weekend when Saturday Night Live made a series of brutal jokes at her expense, where the Duchess was called a 'terrorist' in a news bulletin-style skit that suggested she had kidnapped Harry and his father King Charles's US state visit was a front to 'seek his release'.
The self-proclaimed fashionista Meghan was also missing from the most dazzling evening in the fashion calendar - the Met Gala in New York.
A source previously told the Daily Mail's Alison Boshoff: ‘She [Meghan] snubbed Lauren before the [Bezos] wedding. Meghan was invited to things by Lauren and didn’t want to go. She didn’t want to be seen with her because she thought she was trashy'
‘The normally liberal SNL finds Meghan funny’, Richard Fitzwilliams said today.
‘One of Meghan’s most infuriating characteristics is the way she takes herself so seriously. She seems immersed in positivity. It’s relentless but cannot overlook the fact that, apart from her mother she has fallen out with both sides of her family.
‘She also has a disastrous habit of falling out with Hollywood’s top power brokers. Reports have indicated that Netflix’s executives don’t trust her and can’t stand her either'.
It was six years ago in 2020 that Harry and Meghan quit life as working royals
Sources, however, suggest that King Charles 'welcomes' the opportunity to see more of his family
The couple famously appeared in public together for the first time at the Toronto Invictus Games in 2017, pictured hand-in-hand at a wheelchair tennis event.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved to Vancouver Island in 2020 after quitting the royal family in what became known as 'Megxit'.
Meghan, 43, also lived in Toronto for several years where the Netfix series 'Suits' was filmed and famously made their first appearance together as a couple at the 2017 Invictus Games held in the city.
Since the couple's shock exit, Prince Harry's relationship is said to have been strained not only with his father but with his older brother and future monarch, Prince William.
The two brothers, who were once close previously pledged in honour of their late mother Princess Diana that regardless of any 'hurt feelings' that either had towards one another.
However, according to royal author Phil Dampier, who wrote Royally Suited: Harry And Meghan in their own words, the promise is broken.
Dampier told the Daily Mail: 'William and Harry put aside their differences for the unveiling of the statue of their mother Princess Diana [five years ago], but things are much worse now.
'I think William would find it very hard to meet Harry, even to honour Diana's memory. Next year marks the 30th anniversary of her death, so that would be an obvious time for them to try and heal their rift and at least be seen together, but I don't think William's heart is in it.
'Friends tell me that, as far as he is concerned, Harry is the past, and he is only concerned about the future for his wife Catherine and their children George, Charlotte and Louis.
'He will never forgive Harry, in my opinion, not just for leaving the Royal Family, but for the dirt he dished out in his book Spare, the Netflix show, and the Oprah Winfrey interview.
'It led to Catherine being smeared as a racist, and he will never forget that.'
Harry wants his father, the King, to be at the Invictus Games next Summer in Birmingham, but no one knows if it will happen.
'Charles may use Queen Camilla's 80th birthday as an excuse not to be present. But one thing is certain – William won't be there. He will make sure he is far away so there is no doubt he could make it.
'Obviously the dates are known, but William won't want to be anywhere near his brother. He will feel he is being used by Harry, just to benefit himself and his image.
'Of course, William wants to support veterans and the military – after all, he will one day be King and head of the armed forces – but I just can't see him dancing to Harry's tune.
'Too much has been said, it's gone on so long, and the feelings of hurt and betrayal are too deep.'
One of William and Harry's final events together was the unveiling of a statue of Diana in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace on July 1, 2021, what would have been her 60th birthday.
This is a breaking news story, more to follow.
