Don't call it a royal comeback, but it is a homecoming, of sorts. Six years after leaving the UK and moving to the United States, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are heading back across the pond. Yes, their California dreamin' is over.
Though one has to wonder, was it actually a dream, or did it become something of a nightmare? After all, those six years included lawsuits, public scrutiny and no shortage of headlines. The latest broke Wednesday evening, revealing that America is losing four of its royal residents: a Duke, a Duchess, a Prince and a Princess.
Harry and Meghan, who have called Montecito home for the past several years, are relocating to the UK for an extended period, with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, set to start school this month.
The news certainly wasn't on my 2026 bingo card. And talk about irony: In the 250th year of the United States, Harry, a descendant of King George III, is heading back to the very country his adopted home declared independence from a quarter of a millennium ago. Meanwhile, it was only six years ago that he and Meghan set out in search of their own kind of independence. Financial independence, that is, after initially offering a half-in half-out proposal that was shot down by the late Queen Elizabeth.
Once in the US, Meghan and Harry were welcomed by the entertainment industry, inking deals with Netflix and Spotify in their first year as non-working royals. Here, the couple also founded their production company, Archewell Productions, received various awards, and Meghan launched her lifestyle brand As ever and starred in her own Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. But the American dream didn't unfold quite as many had expected.
The couple parted ways with Spotify in 2023 and Meghan's second podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder, has been on hiatus since 2025. And although their production company extended its creative partnership with Netflix in 2025 with a multi-year, first look deal for film and television projects, questions about the relationship have persisted.
Earlier this year, Variety published a story titled "Inside Meghan and Harry’s Falling Out With Netflix — and Why the Royal Couple Is Struggling in Hollywood." In the piece, the trade magazine reported that the Sussexes' "perceived pattern of selling repackaged versions of the same story about their exit from royal life" had "exhausted" the streamer. It added that the partnership could continue to taper off, taking with it what the publication described as Meghan and Harry's "remaining show business lifeline."
© Vito Amati/The David Foster Foundation via Getty ImagesHELLO! first had suspicions that the family might have a future in the UK again after chatting with singer Joss Stone at the 2025 WellChild Awards, where she recalled speaking with Harry about the importance of community for kids and how wonderful schools are in the UK.
While education could be a potential reason behind their relocation, what shocks me most about their move is that they're choosing to return to the UK after everything that's been said and done since they left. From the infamous Oprah interview to Spare and their Netflix docuseries, the Sussexes have been candid about their experiences as working royals, sharing their recollections, along with their reason for leaving, with Harry telling Oprah that racism "was a large part of it."
I always imagined that leaving the UK, where Harry was born into the only life and role he had ever known, would require an enormous adjustment. Yet Harry has previously spoken warmly about life in America and raising his children there. He even felt as though he was living the life he thought his late mother, Princess Diana, wanted for him, noting at the 2024 DealBook Summit that in the US he was "able to do the things that I am able to do with my kids that I undoubtedly wouldn't be able to do in the UK, is huge."
What was missing, however, was his wider family. The Duke made it known in 2025 that he would welcome a reconciliation with his family, telling BBC News: "Of course, some members of my family will never forgive me for writing a book. Of course, they will never forgive me for…lots of things. But, you know, there is- I would love reconciliation with my family. I've always, you know, there's no point in continuing to fight any more," adding, "As I said, life is precious. I don't know how much longer my father has."
© Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for ABAWith no apparent reconciliation having taken place between Diana's boys, could Harry being back on British soil be a step towards repairing his and brother Prince William's relationship? And, after everything that has happened, can that trust ever truly be rebuilt?
If Meghan and Harry's brief tenure in the states has taught us anything, it's this: perhaps the grass isn't always greener on the other side...but it's definitely warmer and sunnier in California!
Given how big the news is, HELLO!'s Royal Editor Emily Nash is returning from her summer break early to share her take on the Sussexes move, so be sure to keep an eye out for her thoughts.
