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Are Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Moving Back to London After Royal Feud? Family Updates
They were on the hunt for candy. Shortly before sunset on Halloween, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and their children made their way down a tree-lined street alongside other families. A photo that surfaced online showed Harry and 4-year-old Archie — who appeared to be dressed as a skeleton—holding hands and clutching orange jack-o’-lantern buckets. Meanwhile, Meghan carried 2-year-old Lilibet — who wore a poofy pink costume — on her hip as they roamed near their home in Montecito, California.
But next year, the Sussexes may be trick-or- treating in England. After leaving Britain and stepping down as senior working royals in 2020 amid growing tensions with his family, “Harry and Meghan have been talking about moving back to London,” a source exclusively reveals to Life & Style, explaining that the duo “are going through one of the toughest times of their lives — and that’s saying a lot, considering what they’ve been through already. California just isn’t cutting it for them, and their financial situation has become dire.”
So much so that they recently resorted to begging King Charles III for their old jobs back. “Harry’s been trying to cut a secret deal to live and work with the royal family again,” shares the source, “and Charles has graciously agreed to it. He and Meghan are grateful.”
Charles had cut Harry off financially following the move to North America, forcing the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to find ways to earn money. They quickly signed deals with Netflix and Spotify, but the latter ended its lucrative multimillion-dollar contract with the couple in June, after they’d produced just a single season of Meghan’s “Archetypes” podcast. Now their $14.7 million mansion, 24/7 private security, designer wardrobe and decadent vacations — in recent weeks, they’ve been to Portugal and the Caribbean — are adding up. “They obviously need to cut their expenses,” the insider tells Life & Style, noting that the cost of maintaining their lifestyle has left Harry and Meghan “about $28 million in debt, and they seemingly have no new income. It’s been a rude awakening.”
That’s why, despite all the bad blood and family tensions Harry exposed in his January memoir, Spare, “he and Meghan want to return to Britain,” claims the source, who says the prince, 39, and Meghan, 42, “have tried to make it work [in America], but it hasn’t happened — and their money problems have directly affected their marriage.”
In Meghan’s ideal world, however, she’d be reunited with her in-laws — whom she and Harry have accused of everything from racism to physical violence — only part-time. “She thinks they’ll still be living in LA eight months a year and can rent a massive Kensington Palace apartment the rest of the time,” the source tells Life & Style, pointing out that the couple previously resided on the palace grounds in a small cottage. “She believes it could help them repair their marriage.” It would certainly help repair their fractured relationship with Charles, 75.
“He loves Harry and his grandchildren, and having his family back together is what he’s wanted,” says the source. But his approval comes with conditions. Namely, “Meghan and Harry have to agree not to speak ill of the royals again,” says the source. “That’s a must. It would be an utter embarrassment if they were to be kicked out of the family for a second time.” Assuming the Sussexes have made peace with that, adds the source, “they could resume royal duties by as soon as December.” Not everyone is on board, though. Prince William and wife Princess Kate, both 41, “don’t think Harry and Meghan moving back is such a good idea,” says the source, noting that William and Kate relocated to a new house on the Windsor Castle estate about an hour outside of London last year, but have maintained their country home in Norfolk, as well as Apartment 1A at Kensington Palace. “So they’d still be neighbors with the Sussexes in London. And Meghan and Kate as neighbors again could be problematic.”
Meghan famously claimed Kate made her cry over an ill-fitting bridesmaid dress, but after such a lengthy estrangement between the couples, “William does want to repair his relationship with his brother,” the source tells Life & Style. “The thought is that they’ll all have to leave the past behind them and start fresh.”
