Dozens of questions swirled Thursday as Prince Harry prepares to move back to the UK with his wife and children, six years after his departure sparked a bitter rift with the royal family.
In a surprise move, Harry and Meghan “plan to leave the United States by the end of the month to settle in a private, non-royal residence, which is said to be located outside London”, The Daily Telegraph reported late on Wednesday.
Media outlets including the BBC reported the couple’s two children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, had already been enrolled in a British school for the start of the school year in early September.
But many questions remain.
Why now?
Some commentators pointed out that Harry and Meghan’s US adventure has largely failed to live up to expectations.
“Meghan’s cookery series didn’t go well. They haven’t managed to cooperate successfully… with Netflix. And also, they lost Spotify,” royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told AFP.
“I think they’ve not been a success in Hollywood and I think this is one way to change things, and change things before William becomes king.”
The couple might also be concerned over reports that Harry’s brother Prince William “might remove their (royal) titles”, he added.
Another commentator, Ed Owens, said Harry, King Charles III’s younger son, was keen to reconcile with his father and wider family.
Harry and Meghan met the king in July during a brief visit to the UK — the first time in four years the couple’s children had met their grandfather.
“There’s a sense that visit went well… so now might seem an opportune moment,” Owens said.
Where will they live?
After stepping back as working royals in 2020, Harry, 41, and Meghan, 45, known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, eventually settled in Montecito in California.
It has been reported that the couple have chosen a new house in the UK, but it will not be one of the many royal residences.
Fitzwilliams said the rural Cotswolds area of western England, where Harry spent time as a child at his father’s private Highgrove House residence, appeared to be a possibility.
The Sun newspaper said the couple would keep their Montecito home, as well as a house in Portugal where they are believed to have spent some vacation time this summer.
They also spent some time in July with Harry’s uncle Charles Spencer, in the ancestral home of Althorp where his mother Princess Diana grew up and is buried.
What will they do?
The late Queen Elizabeth II made it clear to Harry and Meghan before her death in 2022 that there was no “half-in/half-out” option under which they could pursue commercial ventures while being working royals.
There appears to be no change to that position from Buckingham Palace.
“Currently, their podcasts, lifestyle shows, and entrepreneurial activities are seen as incompatible with the ethos of royal work which is considered to be done for the greater good, not for financial gain,” said sociologist Nathalie Weidhase of the University of Surrey.
Harry is patron of a number of UK charities and remains involved with the Invictus Games for wounded veterans, which he founded and which will be held in Birmingham next year.
The couple’s reported initial $100 million deal with Netflix was last year replaced with a reduced agreement to develop film and TV projects for the streaming giant.
Meghan also launched a lifestyle and consumer-products brand, As Ever, in 2025.
The couple are not popular with the public, with a YouGov poll revealing only 22 percent of Britons had a positive opinion of Meghan and 33 percent for Harry.
Can Harry reconcile with William?
Relations with Harry’s family nosedived in March 2021 with a no-holds-barred interview with US talk show hostess Oprah Winfrey.
The rift deepened further with the publication in January 2023 of Harry’s tell-all memoir “Spare”.
While bridges have since been rebuilt with Charles, Prince William, the heir to the throne, and Harry remain estranged.
The Daily Mail tabloid reported that William would be “apoplectic”.
“There is a very deep rift. He feels Harry has betrayed him,” Fitzwilliams said.
What security will there be?
Harry has said he did not feel safe bringing his family to Britain after losing a court battle over government-funded police protection.
Jennie Bond, a former BBC royal correspondent, told Sky News it was “extraordinary that he feels suddenly that he can bring his wife and children to the UK when a year ago he couldn’t see any way of doing that because of the issues over security”.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham told reporters their security was a “private matter”, wishing them well in the move.