Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are preparing to relocate their family back to the United Kingdom.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, 41 and 44, have reportedly enrolled Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, in UK schools for the upcoming fall term, marking a dramatic reversal of their six-year California exile. King Charles III, 77, was informed of the couple’s plans on Sunday, August 16, and reportedly welcomes closer contact with his grandchildren in a private capacity.
The move does not signal a return to working royal duties. Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior royals in January 2020, relocating first to Canada and then to Montecito in Santa Barbara County, where they built an independent life through media production, the Archewell Foundation, and Meghan’s lifestyle brand, As Ever.
Sources indicate the relocation centers on giving Archie and Lilibet a permanent base closer to their British roots and extended family. Harry has made frequent solo trips to London for the Invictus Games, WellChild, and Scotty’s Little Soldiers, but has avoided bringing his family due to security concerns after their taxpayer-funded police protection was withdrawn.
In a May 2025 BBC interview after losing his security appeal, Harry said, “I can’t see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point… And I think that it’s really quite sad that I won’t be able to show, you know, my children my homeland.”
The family’s position shifted after a private meeting at Highgrove House on July 9, when Harry, Meghan, Archie, and Lilibet joined King Charles and Queen Camilla for tea. The visit marked the first time the entire Sussex family had been in Britain together since the Platinum Jubilee in June 2022.
Royal author Alison Boshoff, whose reporting in The Daily Mail first signaled the reversal, told The Royalist podcast, “I think there are people on two sides of this blanket, and each of them has a thread in their hands, and they’re pulling it… I think it is being unpicked. Whether this actually happens, I don’t know… All I can tell you for sure is they want it to happen, and they think it’s going to happen. They feel optimistic that they are on their way back in, in some way.”
Boshoff added that a source in the Sussex camp described developments as “baby steps… But in the right direction. At this point it’s all about direction of travel.”
The pivot follows reported strains in the couple’s American venture. Boshoff cited a source who knows Harry well: “Harry and Meghan both feel that America is kind of cooling on them, and they want to be liked in the U.K. Now. That’s where they’re focusing. It’s a charm offensive.”
The same source pointed to tensions within the marriage, telling Boshoff, “I don’t think he’s ever wanted to be estranged from his family. I think when he was madly in love with Meghan he could be blind enough to choose her. Now things are different, and the veil is lifting.”
In the viral moment that preceded this shift, Harry had spent years publicly battling for restored security, losing multiple court appeals including a final rejection in May 2025. The Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures maintained that automatic protection was reserved for full-time working royals. Harry’s team had spent days negotiating enhanced private security for the July visit, and reports suggest sufficient provisions have now been assured for the family’s return.
Details of future residence remain unclear. Royal Lodge in Windsor, vacated by Prince Andrew, had previously been floated as a possible olive branch from Charles, though the 30-bedroom property requires substantial repairs. The couple have not publicly commented on their moving plans, and Buckingham Palace has remained silent on security arrangements.
Harry is expected to return to the UK in September, with speculation that Meghan and the children may join him. The 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham are being eyed as a major public-facing moment for the entire family on British soil.