We’re interrupting our summer newsletter break with a special post, following the surprise news Harry and Meghan are moving back to the UK. And yes, we are VERY surprised. The Telegraph broke the story last night, revealing the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are relocating from California, so that Archie, 7 and Lilibet, 5, can attend a British school.
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The school has not been announced, but it’s understood the family will move into a private home somewhere outside of London. According to Victoria Ward at The Telegraph, the plan was not discussed with King Charles when the family met in July, but he was informed on Sunday. He is said to be pleased he will be seeing much more of the family.
The Sussexes will keep their homes in Montecito and Portugal and Meghan will continue to run As Ever from here. The location of their new home and the school has not been disclosed and the status of the couple as non-working royals remains unchanged.
The children are expected to enrol in a co-educational day school, like George, Charlotte and Louis have at Lambrook School, although George is off to Eton this September. But it’s unlikely they’d join the same school as their cousins. Could it be in Northamptonshire, near Althorp Estate, where the family visited, this summer? It won’t be long before the school is revealed, we suspect. And as the term starts in September, we’re sure there will be a lot of surprised parents in Years Three and One, as they discover their children have some royal classmates.
The news was received with shock in the UK – royal reporters included. “Surprise is an understatement,” royal biographer Robert Hardman told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme, adding the news shows Harry intends his children to be more “British rather than American”. It’s probably safe to conclude that this is something Harry has pushed for, more than Meghan – wanting his children to have a similar education to he enjoyed.
There’s also speculation over how William and Catherine will react – they are understood to have been informed, with BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt saying the Prince of Wales will be ‘apoplectic’. “In the long term, the return of the Sussexes to the UK opens up the prospect of two rival courts, William’s and Harry’s. In the short term, Harry will be able to deepen his rapprochement with his father,” he told The Daily Mail. “His presence back home will make it harder for his brother to duck a reconciliation. The surprise return of Harry and Meghan is likely to have left William apoplectic.”
As to what we think at The Royal List: we’re with Education Secretary Lucy Powell who hopes Harry and Meghan’s move back to Britain will be, ‘part of a bigger reconciliation’ for the Royal Family. The news the couple want to educate their children in the UK, at primary school, is a positive one. What it means long-term for their life in California, we’re not sure. They would certainly have enjoyed a more laid-back lifestyle in Montecito than the UK, but perhaps they are planning on spending a lot of the school holidays in Portugal and California.
It’s a big move and we hope that the whole family are happy with it and that it might lead, in time, to a reconciliation between the brothers and a calmer future all round. We wish them well.
The Royal List, by two trusted journalists, goes
behind the headlines each week. For deep-dive,
exclusive content, consider upgrading to paid.
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