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THE RUNDOWN
- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be returning to England after six years of absence in September.
- According to an exclusive report published by People the Sussexes children Prince Archie (7) and Princess Lilibet (5) are already enrolled in British school and will commence completion of the school year in September.
- Prince Harry’s estrangement from the British royal family started shortly after his wedding to Meghan Markle in 2018. Since stepping down from royal duties and moving to the US in 2020 they have addressed the estrangement in multiple inerviews, a documentary and Prince Harry’s autobiography Spare.
- Harry’s father King Charles was diagnosed with cancer in 2024 and the Sussex family visited him in July this year. Prince Harry reportedly remains completely estranged from his brother Prince William.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are returning to live in the UK for an extended period starting this month. According to an exclusive report published by People, their two children, Prince Archie (7) and Princess Lilibet (5), are already enrolled in British school and will be attending in September. The couple will establish a private, non-royal home while retaining their homes in the US and Portugal.
Prince Harry, 41, and Meghan Markle, 45, married in May 2018 in a spectacular wedding at Windsor Castle. However, following intense scrutiny from the press and tension within the British royal family, they became estranged and officially stepped down from royal duties in March 2020, relocating to the US later that year.
King Charles reportedly received the update that the Sussexes would be returning on Sunday, August 16. The stage was set in July during a quiet family reunion at Highgrove — seen as a thaw after years of icy relations. It was the first time young Archie and Lilibet had set foot in Britain since 2022, when the family last gathered to lay Queen Elizabeth II to rest. Now, six years after stepping down as senior royals, the couple’s return signals a delicate personal truce
Why Are Prince Harry And Meghan Markle Returning To England?
While the couple have not released a statement about the relocation, the move coincides with a worsening in the King’s health. On August 19, 2026, Queen Camilla publicly reflected on the King’s condition in a video conversation with Dame Laura Lee DBE, CEO of the cancer charity Maggie’s. Camilla recalled the emotional difficulty of keeping Charles’s illness private shortly before his initial announcement in February 2024:
“Nobody could say anything at the time. That was quite difficult,” Camilla shared. “I almost said something but, you know, I felt that it wasn’t the time to say. I looked at everybody who was suffering and all the relations, and I think it made me realise even more how important these places were. I was just longing to let it out but obviously I couldn’t.”
What Happened Between Prince Harry And The Royal Family?
Harry’s relationship with the royal family and his country of origin has been fraught. The Prince previously took legal action against the British Home Office over its decision to remove his state-funded police protection after he stepped back from royal duties.
Harry married Meghan Markle, former star of the legal drama Suits, in a lavish 2018 ceremony after meeting her through mutual friends. During her time as a working royal, Meghan faced severe tabloid scrutiny and media coverage that Harry characterised as racist and intrusive. Having long blamed the paparazzi for the tragic 1997 death of his mother, Princess Diana, Harry found the relentless coverage of his wife intensely traumatic.
Reflecting on the painful distance between himself and his family in his 2023 memoir Spare, Harry wrote:
“I love my Mother Country, and I love my family, and I always will. I just wish, at the second-darkest moment of my life, they’d been there for me too. And I believe they’ll look back one day and wish they had too.”
Harry described himself as “devastated” by the rift. Seeking a new start, the couple moved to the seaside enclave of Montecito near Santa Barbara, California, purchasing a 16-bedroom estate for a reported $14.7 million.
They subsequently aired their grievances in high-profile media appearances, including a tell-all Oprah Winfrey interview, a Netflix documentary series, and Harry’s memoir. While the Royal Family was reportedly dismayed by the public display of internal conflicts, Harry defended their openness in Spare:
“I told them that I failed to see how speaking to Oprah was any different from what my family and their staff had done for decades – briefing the press on the sly, planting stories. And what about the endless books on which they’d co-operated, starting with Pa’s 1994 crypto-autobiography with Jonathan Dimbleby? Or Camilla’s collaborations with the editor Geordie Greig? The only difference was that Meg and I were upfront about it. We chose an interviewer who was above reproach, and we didn’t once hide behind phrases like ‘Palace sources’, we let people see the words coming out of our mouths.”
While Harry’s relationship with King Charles — who was diagnosed with cancer in early 2024 — appears to be improving, reports indicate he remains out of contact with his older brother and heir to the throne, Prince William.
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