Doria Ragland, 69, will remain in California while her daughter Meghan Markle, 45, and Prince Harry, 41, prepare to relocate to the United Kingdom later this month, insiders said Thursday.
The social worker is active within her yoga community on the West Coast and is not ready to temporarily leave her life or friends behind, according to the outlet. She will stay at a home near the couple’s $14.5 million Montecito estate in Santa Barbara County, where she would often drive to visit with her grandkids, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Ragland has plans to continue visiting with her family, though the detailed arrangements have yet to be revealed. She has been a consistent presence in Harry and Markle’s lives, even flying from Los Angeles to the UK in 2019 when Archie was born. She also helped Markle when Lilibet was born in 2021, and has joined the couple for multiple family outings throughout the years, including their trip to Disneyland this past spring.
She also appeared in the “Suits” alum’s Netflix series, “With Love, Meghan.” Meghan, however, has been estranged from her father, Thomas Markle, 81, for years, dating back to at least 2018 when he didn’t walk her down the aisle at her wedding to Harry.
It’s unclear whether Harry and Meghan are staying in England for a year or more, with an insider also telling TMZ they are taking it day by day. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were confirmed to be returning to Europe for “an extended period” at the end of the month.
“The palace was made aware of the move,” an reports said on Wednesday, saying that King Charles III was informed about the family’s return over the weekend. “Charles is the reason they are moving back,” the source claimed, with another adding that the patriarch, 77, “looks forward” to his time with Harry and Meghan. Charles has notably been battling cancer and publicly announced his diagnosis in February 2024.
The “Spare” author and Meghan will live in the UK as non-working members of the royal family and reside in “a non-royal residence,” per the Sun. Archie and Lilibet are already enrolled in schools across the pond and are set to start in a few weeks.
Harry and Meghan moved to California six years ago after announcing they were stepping away from “senior” royal duties. “After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution,” they wrote in a statement at the time.
In the viral moment that defined their rupture with the monarchy, the duo spoke out about the royal family in a 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, with Meghan addressing her alleged hardships as a royal, admitting she “didn’t want to be alive anymore” at one point. In one claim, she alleged that members of the royal family discussed concerns about “how dark [Archie’s] skin might be when he was born.” At the time, Prince William addressed the allegation, saying the royal family was “very much not a racist family.” The late Queen Elizabeth II wrote in a statement that “the whole family [was] saddened” by the allegations, “particularly” the claim about “race.” Then, in 2023, Harry released his memoir, accusing William of physically attacking him and Charles of referring to him as a “spare” when he was born, alluding to how far he is down the line of succession.
While Harry’s relationship with Charles has been on the mend, he and his brother are still not on speaking terms. Harry said earlier this year, “I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” He added, “I don’t know how much longer my father has.”
Last month, Harry returned to the UK for charity engagements, and Meghan and the children joined him for part of the visit. They spent time with the king at his Highgrove estate in western England, marking the first time Archie and Lilibet had seen their grandfather since the late Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee in 2022.
The Sussexes’ Montecito neighbors have reportedly reacted to the news of their departure, with one telling Page Six they were “thrilled” and saying “good riddance.”
Archie and Lilibet are scheduled to begin their new school term in the UK in the coming weeks.