LONDON/LOS ANGELES: Prince Harry and his wife Meghan plan to move back to Britain this month, six years after they quit royal duties and relocated to the US, from where they repeatedly criticised the royal family and lambasted the British press.
A person close to the couple said they would move from California to somewhere outside London for an extended period with their children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, who will go to school in Britain.
The surprise news marks the latest twist for a couple who railed against a string of British institutions after they left in 2020, with Harry accusing the royals of neglect, the tabloid press of ruining his life and the government of failing to provide enough security for him to ever return home.
King Charles, who media reports said welcomed having his youngest son and his family closer, only found out about the move on Sunday. Harry and Meghan will not live in a royal residence and will remain non-working royals, as agreed with the late Queen Elizabeth.
Harry's spokesperson and Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
Harry married Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle in 2018, and it was hoped his union with the former actor would reinvigorate the historic institution for a new generation.
But it was not long before cracks in their relationship with the rest of the royal family began to emerge. Two years later, in March 2020, they announced they would step down from official duties and move to the US, saying they wanted to leave behind the "toxic" press scrutiny they faced in Britain.
They settled in the wealthy seaside enclave of Montecito, near Santa Barbara, California, with media reports putting the 2020 purchase price of their 16-bedroom home at $14.7 million, a property which they will keep.
In the following years, Harry, now 41, and Meghan, 45, repeatedly hit out at the royal family and the monarchy in TV interviews, a Netflix documentary series and, most notably, in Harry's memoir "Spare".
During a 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan, whose mother is Black, said an unnamed member of the family had asked how dark their son Archie’s skin might be. Heir-to-the-throne Prince William, Harry's elder brother, responded by denying that Britain’s royals were racist.
Harry also had some particularly barbed comments for his father Charles, and William, leading to a total breakdown in their relationship.
He later criticised the British government after it changed his security arrangements and said the lack of automatic police protection meant he was unable to bring his children to Britain. —Reuters
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