For people who think there’s more to the story of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s apparent rush to move back to the United Kingdom, it’s curious that they didn’t have a new home already lined up and ready to take possession of when they landed at Birmingham Airport on Wednesday.
Instead, Daily Mail writer Alison Boshoff has reported that they are staying indefinitely in the “spare” home of a very wealthy friend on the fringes of the Cotswolds, the picturesque rural area west of London that’s become popular with British and American celebrities.
While there were reports that the American Duchess of Sussex had been house-hunting in the Cotswolds during the couple’s visit to the U.K. in July, Boshoff said that it’s only now that they are back on U.K. soil, with “boots on the ground,” that they can begin “house-hunting in earnest.”
And, according to Boshoff, the Sussexes somehow have “a gargantuan budget” for buying a new home in the U.K, even though they saw their Hollywood dream and their multimillion-dollar production deals fizzle out. This new home also could become a part of an expanding real estate portfolio, which already includes their $15 million Montecito mansion and their $8.5 million vacation house in Portugal, Boshoff said.
Meghan and Harry also have specific ideas for what they want in their new home, which they hope will fulfill their new “English countryside dream,” according to Boshoff. Meghan demands that the house have nine bedrooms — like their mansion in Montecito — while Harry wants lots of land to protect their privacy, Boshoff said.
Even though they rushed to leave the U.K. in 2020, complaining about hostile treatment from the royal family, the British media and segments of the British public, the Sussexes are reportedly excited to be back in Harry’s home country and to enroll their children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, in a posh private school.
“They have an English countryside dream,” a friend told Boshoff. One reason that living in the U.K. could be more palatable this time is that Harry will be living there as a private citizen, not as a working member of the royal family, the friend said.
The public won’t have a right to “demand any access to him,” as they would if he were a working member of the royal family and his livelihood was partially subsidized by British taxpayers. Now, Harry “is going to have a chance to enjoy all of the things he loves about the country, but as a private citizen,” the friend said.
“They will have more freedom now – it is like finding freedom again,” the friend added, referring to the couple’s 2020 acrimonious departure from the U.K. and move to the United States. That move was supposed to be about “finding freedom.”
Boshoff previously reported that Harry and Meghan’s main motivation for leaving the United States is that the duke wanted his children, who have thus far been raised in California, to have an elite, British education. However, many other journalists and royal observers have reported that the couple’s return to the U.K. also has been necessitated by their failure to make a go of it as media moguls in Hollywood, as well as Harry’s general unhappiness in California.
Boshoff’s sources confirm that Harry wasn’t happy in Montecito. “He had no life in California, no friends. There was no common ground with anyone,” an associate of the couple said.
Certainly for Harry, the return to the U.K. is long-term, with the duke basing himself and their children in England until the children complete their education — another 15 years or so, Boshoff said. The son of King Charles III is reportedly all in on being the full-time, “key-at-home parent,” according to Boshoff.
It’s not known if Harry has any plans to work outside the home, except for making public appearances on behalf of charities he supports, notably the Invictus Games, which are coming up in Birmingham next summer. It’s often been said that Harry is good at being a prince, turning up at events to charm crowds and highlight worthy causes, but his father has made it clear that neither he nor Meghan will be returning to royal duties.
As for Meghan’s plans? The former TV actor-turned lifestyle guru will “come and go” between the U.K. and the United States, which means that she and her husband will live apart for periods of time, as Boshoff previously reported. Meghan also is seen as the family breadwinner, with Boshoff also citing a royal source who said the couple are on their own financially. “There is no way that a single penny will come from his extremely wealthy father, not even on a private basis,” Boshoff reported.
“Meghan is going to be transatlantic because she has commercial interests elsewhere and they need to earn money,” Boshoff said. She pointed out that Meghan’s lifestyle business, As Ever, currently doesn’t ship to the U.K. It’s also well known that Meghan didn’t have a good time living in the U.K. the first time, even though she had the cachet of being part of the royal family and was much more popular with the British public than she is now.
Still, Boshoff’s report makes it sound as though Meghan hopes to do as much work as possible in the U.K. by building a film studio on their new countryside property, where she could potentially make content for her As Ever brand and any ventures.
But even as Meghan devotes herself to being the family breadwinner, questions remain over how the Sussexes intend to fund their lavish lifestyle, which will potentially include three homes and a private hefty security bill, which reportedly costs them several million dollars per year, reports have estimated. ITV reported Friday that the couple have not been granted any taxpayer-funded police security, despite Harry’s repeated insistence that he didn’t feel safe bringing his wife and children back to the U.K. without it.
Meanwhile, a New York Post report has disputed the idea that Meghan and Harry can afford to keep their Montecito mansion, as well as buy a new home in the U.K. and keep their vacation home in Portugal.
Sources close to the couple have insisted to Boshoff and other media outlets that they plan to hold onto their 16-bathroom Montecito home, where they would spend the upcoming Christmas holidays. But a source in the Santa Barbara-area luxury real estate market told The Post there “have been rumblings” the couple will sell Montecito estate because it costs so much to maintain it. The Post revealed that the property costs the couple about $600,000 a year in mortgage and tax payments alone.
