Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s abrupt August departure from their Montecito estate left their children’s California school scrambling, according to a neighbor who spoke in comments published Friday.
Penny Bianchi, 79, an interior designer whose grandchildren attend the same school as Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, claimed the institution had no advance warning of the family’s relocation. “My grandchildren go to the same school and my son is an alumnus so I get all my gossip from there,” she told the outlet.
“I know Archie goes to the school and that they didn’t even know they were leaving until everyone else found out,” Bianchi alleged. She added that staff were subsequently told, “Don’t hold a place for him as he’s not coming back any time soon.”
Bianchi claimed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had endured a lengthy wait for Archie’s admission to an undisclosed elite prep school in England, where annual tuition runs approximately $35,000 according to earlier the outlet reporting. “The moment” acceptance came through, she said, “they practically left the next day.”
“They just disappeared overnight,” Bianchi repeated, characterizing the exit as sudden and unannounced.
The family’s former school allegedly chafed at the couple’s security protocols. “They would drop the children off with them,” Bianchi said of the bodyguards. “To be honest, nobody really liked them here very much. They aren’t popular.”
Sources close to Harry and Meghan countered that withholding notice from the school served security purposes, and that celebrity families commonly employ guards for school runs.
Bruce Johnston, 82, a founding member of the Beach Boys and former neighbor, offered a harsher assessment of the Duke. “I’m sure that Harry has gone back to tell his brother he’s sorry for being a jerk,” Johnston said during a Santa Barbara outing.
“His father is not well and William is going to be King, so he needs to make amends,” Johnston continued, adding that “no one really knows why they left — apart from Oprah.”
“They were at her home all the time,” Johnston claimed. “I live opposite Oprah too.”
Johnston’s personal encounters with the couple were minimal over four years. “I saw them only once, in the back of their car,” he said. While conceding “they did look happy,” he noted they “kept themselves to themselves.”
The musician also recounted an unsettling run-in with the family’s armed security. “I was scared when I saw their bodyguards with guns, however, filling up their car with gas,” he claimed.
Even the couple’s koi carp became a point of local fixation. A woman who runs a Montecito koi maintenance company, speaking anonymously, warned that the fish require daily feeding and pristine water conditions. “If a pump goes out, then within 12 hours they will die,” she said.
The woman said her company had “dropped” Harry and Meghan as clients, citing philosophical differences. “Let’s just say we didn’t align,” she stated. “You don’t air your dirty laundry in the open and go against your family.”
She confirmed the residence now sits empty. “Everyone knows it’s vacant,” she said, advising the couple to rent it out to prevent “bad things” from happening.
Another neighbor speculated the Sussexes departed because “there was nothing left for them” in Montecito, asserting they “were never really part of the community.” This source noted that Oprah, despite proximity, is “always in Hawaii.”
A local waitress recalled a single visit by the couple to The Honor Bar, where they reportedly refused to join a waiting list. “They said they shouldn’t have to wait. Then they never came back,” she claimed, though noting staff later retrieved to-go orders under aliases.
Real estate speculation has intensified around the multi-million dollar property. Kim, an employee at Village Properties, said that “there are a lot of whispers that the house will be going on the market,” with daily inquiries from prospective buyers. “I can’t see why they wouldn’t sell it.”
David Encell, another local estate agent, expressed skepticism about an immediate sale. “I’d be shocked to see the home sold in a year,” he said, citing substantial upkeep costs for a “part-time place.” He suggested the couple might first test pricing quietly before global listing, and could be “giving it a few months” in England before deciding.
“Everyone was surprised when they moved, as this is a place people move to, not from,” Encell observed, though allowing the Sussexes might ultimately “say it wasn’t for them and move back.”
Harry and Meghan established their Montecito life after controversially exiting royal duties in 2020, raising Archie and Lilibet in the coastal enclave while building their Archewell media ventures and pursuing various legal and charitable initiatives.