impossible to endure. As recently as last year Harry suggested there was little chance of ever reversing course. “I can’t see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the U.K. at this point,” he told the BBC in May 2025. But this fall Harry, 41, and Meghan, 45, are doing just that.

Prince Harry ‘Never Really Stopped Missing Home’: Inside His and Meghan Markle’s Shocking U.K. Return (Exclusive)

Sources tell PEOPLE why the Sussexes are starting a new chapter in Britain—and what their return could mean for a royal family still divided

By
Simon Perry

and
Erin Hill

Updated on August 25, 2026 10:54AM EDT

566Comments

NEED TO KNOW

Sources tell PEOPLE Prince Harry “never really stopped missing home” as he and Meghan Markle prepare for a return that once seemed unthinkable
King Charles hopes the move could bring his sons closer, but major obstacles to a royal reconciliation remain
Meghan is returning to the country where her royal life unraveled — but insiders say this time will be very different

They called it their “Freedom Flight.” Six years ago Prince Harry and Meghan Markle headed west, leaving Britain and a royal life they said had become impossible to endure. As recently as last year Harry suggested there was little chance of ever reversing course. “I can’t see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the U.K. at this point,” he told the BBC in May 2025. But this fall Harry, 41, and Meghan, 45, are doing just that.

Craig Barritt/Getty; Meghan Markle/Instagram

As PEOPLE exclusively revealed on Aug. 19, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are relocating to Britain for an extended period with Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, who are enrolled in school there and starting classes in September. The family, due to arrive in late August, will establish a private, nonroyal home base believed to be
outside London — though they have not purchased a home — while retaining their residence in Montecito, Calif.

“Step by step, they want to be in the U.K.,” a source close to Harry tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “They want to have the time and give the kids the opportunity to be here.”

The surprising return opens possibilities that seemed unimaginable just weeks ago. Harry will be back in the country he has long missed; Archie and Lilibet will have a chance to experience the traditions and family history he grew up with; and Meghan is stepping into an unexpected new professional chapter, with talks underway for a role on Netflix’s The Gentlemen, which films in the U.K. For King Charles, 77, who is still undergoing treatment for cancer, it brings his younger son and two grandchildren close again — an opportunity he welcomes — and raises fresh hope that the royal family’s painful rifts might finally begin to heal.

Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Prince William, Kate Middleton and King Charles on March 9, 2020.Phil Harris – WPA Pool/Getty

Moving back does not mean returning to royal life. Charles has made it clear that there will be no change to Harry and Meghan’s status as private, nonworking members of the royal family, in keeping with the agreement reached when they stepped back from official duties in 2020. Nor will this be a simple welcome home. Harry and Meghan are returning to a skeptical British public, a relentless tabloid press and family relationships deeply damaged by the accusations they leveled after leaving royal life.

“I don’t think they will be welcomed back with open arms,” says Queen Elizabeth’s former press secretary Alisa Anderson. “They will have to rebuild that trust and affection — with the family and the public.”

Our new app is here! Free, fun and full of exclusives. Scan to download now!

The move, sources stress, isn’t sudden. It has been in the works for about a year, and with Archie and Lilibet now school-age, those close to the couple say the timing increasingly made sense.

“It’s something Harry has been thinking about for a while,” says a source close to the duke.

There were clues. At the WellChild Awards last September, Harry quizzed British singer Joss Stone about her family’s return to Britain after years in Tennessee. “He asked about how we were settling back in and was genuinely interested in our move home,” Stone said at the time. “He was saying how wonderful the schools are here and how important community is for children.”

Related Stories

Inside Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Inner Circle in the U.K. as They Prepare for Major Move

Everything Meghan Markle Has Said About Her Acting Career Since Her Engagement to Prince Harry

Meghan’s potential acting project helped the pieces fall into place. Harry, meanwhile, has his own work pulling him toward Britain, including his remaining patronages and preparations for the Invictus Games in Birmingham in July 2027. “He will be in the weeds on it every day,” a source says.

But beneath the professional considerations is something more personal. Despite building a life in Montecito, Harry never fully found his footing there, according to sources in California. He struggled to establish a close social circle of his own and missed the longtime friends and community he had in Britain.

Craig Barritt/Getty

“Harry never really stopped missing home. He’s missed that sense of connection and belonging. Britain is still home in many ways,” says a source close to the couple.

The decision, however, was “taken as a family,” says another source.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on Aug. 7, 2026; Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with Archie and Lilibet at their former home in Windsor in 2022.Vito Amati/The David Foster Foundation via Getty; Netflix/YouTube

For Meghan, part of the appeal is what Britain can offer their children. “Meghan feels very fortunate that they’re able to give Archie and Lilibet the opportunity to experience both worlds,” says a Montecito insider.

Their summer visit offered a glimpse of what that could look like. The children reunited with their grandfather at Highgrove in July, before spending time at Althorp, Princess Diana’s childhood home and final resting place, with Harry’s uncle Charles Spencer, his wife, Cat Jarman, and several cousins from Diana’s side of the family.