Harry and Meghan to move back to Britain after six years in the US

Prince Harry and Meghan will move back to the United Kingdom this month after six years in the United States, but they will not resume their roles as working members of the royal family, according to a person close to the couple. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex plan to settle in a private residence outside London.

The couple's children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, have already been enrolled in British schools and will start classes in September, The Telegraph reported. The Telegraph put the move later this month, while the Associated Press described an extended stay beginning this fall; no final decision has been taken on whether it is permanent. Lilibet was born in California, and Archie was born in Britain in 2019 but has lived in North America since he was a baby.

King Charles III learned of the decision on August 16, three days before it became public, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News. The matter was not raised during the family's visit to him in July, The Telegraph reported. The King welcomes the chance to see more of the Sussex family in a private capacity, CNN reported, but has made clear their status as private individuals and nonworking royals will not change.

From Montecito to a home near London

Harry, 41, and Meghan, 45, have lived in Montecito, an affluent coastal enclave in Santa Barbara County, since 2020, when they stepped back from royal duties and left for North America. They cited tabloid intrusion, racism in British institutions, online abuse and complex family dynamics among the reasons for the departure. The decision to return marks a reversal of the couple's repeated insistence that Southern California was their permanent home, the base for their media deals and their public life since leaving Britain.

The couple do not appear to be cutting ties with California entirely. They plan to keep the Montecito house, and a property in Portugal, The Telegraph reported, establishing a household in England with a foot on each side of the Atlantic.

Harry has said for years that he misses Britain and wants his children to grow up experiencing British life and culture. Much of his charitable work is based in the country, including the Invictus Games, which take place in Birmingham in July 2027. The Telegraph reported that he hopes the King will join him to open the event, a public appearance that would signal how far the reconciliation has traveled.

• New home: a private, non-royal residence outside London
• Timing: relocation expected before the end of August
• Children: Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, starting British schools in September
• Status: private individuals, not working members of the royal family

Meghan will continue running her As Ever lifestyle brand from the U.K. rather than California, according to a source close to the Sussexes. How the business, built around her life in Montecito, will operate from England is one of the questions the move leaves open, and observers have flagged it alongside the family's security and the possibility of an eventual reconciliation with William.

A father in cancer treatment

Harry has expressed an interest in reconciliation so he could spend more time with his father, who is being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer. The two are said to speak regularly by telephone, and Harry met with the King last year during a visit to England. His September visit that year included his first in-person meeting with his father in 19 months, according to CNN.

In an interview with the BBC, Harry described his wish to end the estrangement in blunt terms.

I would love reconciliation with my family. There's no point in continuing to fight anymore. Life is precious. I don't know how much longer my father has.

A reunion in July at Highgrove, the King's private country residence in Gloucestershire, is seen by royal observers as the turning point. Buckingham Palace confirmed the private family visit but gave no details, including how long it lasted; royal commentators put it at just over an hour. It was the first time Archie and Lilibet had seen their grandfather since Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee in 2022. Prince William and Catherine were not there.

Why Harry wanted the move

Harry's contentious visit to the U.K. in July underscored how difficult his current arrangement had become. His spokesperson said an offer to stay at Buckingham Palace was withdrawn at the last moment; the palace said he had missed the deadline to accept it. He also had to walk back initial plans to travel with his wife and children over security concerns. Meghan and the children did join him for part of the visit, spending time with the King at Highgrove.

India McTaggart, a royal correspondent at The Telegraph, told NBC News that the constant transatlantic travel had become untenable and that much of Harry's work already sits in Britain. She said the difficulty of moving back and forth, compounded by the security dispute, had weighed on him for some time and that the pull toward home had grown steadily.

A lot of his charities are based here, whether it's Invictus or WellChild. And I think he feels closer to home here, obviously, because friends are here and I think it's become so deeply complicated for him to go back and forth because of all the security concerns he had.

McTaggart added that Harry had wanted to make the move for some time, and that Meghan, in McTaggart's words, is 'taking one for the team.' A representative for the couple declined to comment, the Associated Press reported, and a spokesperson did not deny the plans when NBC News asked. Buckingham Palace does not comment on speculation about nonworking members of the royal family.

The rift with William remains

There are no signs of a thaw in Harry's relationship with his brother, Prince William, the heir to the throne. Peter Hunt, a former BBC royal correspondent, said the announcement would make William 'apoplectic.' Sources describe no movement toward reconciliation between the brothers, who are not thought to have spoken for years. Whether the two will eventually make amends is among the questions the return has revived.

The estrangement deepened after Harry's 2023 memoir, 'Spare,' in which he described being made to feel less important than his heir-apparent brother. Both William and Catherine, the Princess of Wales, are said to feel betrayed by the book and by Harry's television interviews. Once bound by their shared grief over the death of their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, the brothers have kept their distance ever since Harry left the royal fold.

What the return leaves unresolved

Security for the family is the most immediate unresolved question. Harry lost an appeal in May 2025 against the British government's decision to downgrade his taxpayer-funded protection after he stepped back from royal life, and he described himself as 'devastated' by the outcome in a BBC interview. What arrangements will cover the family once they are living outside London, rather than visiting, has not been set out.

Harry's legal battles with the British press have run to mixed results. He won a case against Mirror Group Newspapers and secured a settlement and an apology from the publisher of The Sun, but the High Court dismissed his claim against Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail, on July 7. A ruling on costs is still to come. The litigation formed part of the backdrop to a return that the couple had long said would not happen.

What role, if any, the Sussexes might eventually play within the royal institution remains open, as does the fate of the Montecito estate and the shape of Meghan's As Ever brand once it operates from England. Whether Archie and Lilibet's school enrollments signal a permanent move, rather than the extended stay described by a person close to the couple, is also unresolved.

Six years of estrangement

Harry and Meghan stepped back as working royals in January 2020 and left for North America, eventually settling in Montecito. The years since brought public fallout with the family, multiple court battles with the press, and a cautious rapprochement between Harry and his father. Harry attended Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in 2022 and the King's coronation the following year, but each trip was brief and closely scrutinized by a British press the couple had accused of intrusion and racism.

1. January 2020: the couple step back as working royals and leave for North America
2. September 2022: Harry attends Queen Elizabeth II's funeral
3. May 2023: Harry attends King Charles III's coronation
4. July 2026: the family reunites with the King at Highgrove
5. August 2026: the plan to return to Britain becomes public

The timing carries an urgency the couple have not fully explained. The children's term begins in September, the King learned of the plan on August 16, and the story broke three days later. Neither the Sussexes nor the palace has set out why the decision was made now.

For Britain, the return revives a familiar national preoccupation. The Windsor family's disputes routinely command public attention, and the couple's homecoming landed as front-page news across virtually every major UK newspaper the day it broke, guaranteeing a fresh wave of speculation about the monarchy's most divisive family storyline.

For now, the practical facts are settled. Two children are enrolled in English schools, a private home outside London awaits, and the parents will live there as private citizens rather than working royals. The rest, from security to the brothers' relationship, from the Montecito estate to Meghan's brand, is still being worked out, and Britain will be watching each answer as it comes.