Why Are Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Moving Back to the UK?

0:00 A Calorouga Shark Media. Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue. I am your host, Mark Francis for the BBC. Daniella Ralph reports that the Sussex family's visit to the UK in July was significant. As well as spending time with the King at Highgrove, Harry Meghan and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, are said to have loved being with a family of Harry's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. The children met their aunts, uncles and cousins. The visit to Europe, which included time in Portugal, where they have a home, was described to me as such a great time for the family it turned a possible move back to the UK into a firm decision. I am told that this move is not due to any problems in the US. It has been driven by the couple's desire to spend time in Europe nearer Harry's family, and wanting to educate their children in the UK. Schools have been chosen for Archie and Lilibet. New terms for virtually all schools in England staft By the second week of September.

1:03 The Sussexes will need to settle in, so we can expect the family to be back in the UK within the next ten days. In the Express, Rebecca Russell asks, is this the ultimate strategic u turn or a sorry retreat? We can only wait and see. In what feels like something plucked straight from the pages of a Shakespearean script, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are returning to the UK when this month? Whyatt's anyone's guess? The distance from his brother allowed William and indeed Catherine to quietly build their legacy, steer the monarchy through family health crises, and hold the firm together. So what now? We have a future king in William who has watched his wife and father be simultaneously made vulnerable by a sledgehammer of a disease while trying to keep the royal show on the road.

1:50 We've watched him fight and make a real and long lasting change in how the monarchy has always run and become a devoted father to Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis has achieved so much, So why is this reward the return of someone who has taken it upon himself to endlessly tell the world. How aggrieved he feels against his family in the UK. It really does begar belief when you think about it. The monarchy has moved on from the moment Harry and Meghan hit the self destruct button on that fateful day in January twenty twenty, as it must, and William faces one hundred more pressing tasks than worrying about the return of his troublesome brother. But the reality of the Sussexes being down the road is undoubtedly a bitter pill to swallow. Surely it can't just be the lure of the British school system, after all, not four years ago, Meghan declared that she couldn't ever imagine educating her children in the UK. How times have changed.

2:45 Harry's isolation has been the heavy price is paid for his independence. You can air your a grievances, throw your toys out of the pram and write a four hundred page memoir to try and take your family down. But once you're out, you're out. What happens in the next few weeks will tell us every thing. Will he grow back into his role as the cheeky Harry the world once adored. We can only wait and see Undoubtedly, King Charles will be thrilled to have his darling boy back and build the long DeFore relationship he craves with his grandchildren. But Harry could be in for a tough lesson. The monarchy has learned to survive without him, so what he does next could be final. The search for Harry and Meghan's new British home is already narrowing, with two areas now being mentioned, most often the Cottswalds and Northamptonshire near the Spencer family estate at Althorpe Royal reported. Tom Sykes says the Cotswolds would make sense for Harry because of his long familiarity with the area. According to Sykes, Harry is very interested in the Cotswolds's obviously where he grew up.

3:47 He knows the roads around there, he knows the back roads. Very importantly, he knows the pubs, and he has a lot of friends in the area. Still, it's also probably about the only place in the UK outside of London where Meghan might be able to friend some high end or high net worth Americans, because, as we know, Meghan didn't like the English very much, did she. She didn't like her experience in England. She found that people were snobby, rude, racist, and they didn't get her. Northamptonshire is the other obvious possibility because of Harry's renewed connection with the Spencer side of his family. Harry, Meghan and the children spent time at Allthorpe during their visit to Britain earlier this summer. The estate was Diana's childhood home and has belonged to the Spencer family for more than five centuries, and according to BBC Senior Royal correspondent Daniel or Ralph, that summer visit may have played a direct role in turning the idea of a British move into a firm decision, she wrote.

4:40 As well as spending time with the King at Highgrove, Harry Meghan and their children, Prince Archie Princess Lilabeta said to have loved being with the family of Harry's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. The visit to Europe, which included time in Portugal, where they have a home, was described to me as such a great time for the family it turned a possible move back to the UK into a firm decision. Also observed, writing in the Daily beast. The King's Office is briefing the Royal Rota, the official sanctioned press pool, that Charles only learned of Harry's move on Sunday and was taken completely by surprise. This is a frankly insulting claim. Harry is fifth in line to the throne. He is obliged to inform the UK's Home and Foreign Office of his movements and residents. His security arrangements, the subject of years of litigation and lobbying, are being reorganized around a permanent UK base. The government would have known.

5:30 As with most things, Meghan is being mocked online. Back in twenty twenty two, Meghan told The Cut that she had serious concerns about what school life would look like for her children if the family remained in Britain. Journalist Alison P. Davis had accompanied Meghan on a preschool pickup for Archie in Montecito and described the contrast Meghan drew between California and the kind of attention she believed the family would face in Britain. According to Davis, Meghan believed she would never be able to handle school drop off or a pickup without it being a royal photo call with a press pay of forty people snapping pictures. Meghan then defended that concern directly, saying sorry, I have a problem with that. It doesn't make me obsessed with privacy. That makes me strong and a good parent protecting my child.

6:12 Royal commentator Victoria Arbata noted this is quite a change. Crisis communications specialist Mark Borkowski told the Press Association that the Sussex's return is extraordinary, but warned that's simply bringing their old approach back to Britain could quickly create problems. Borkowski said, if we're going to see the typical Harry and Meghan three ring circus, then we need to know what happens when that is played out. This leads to a massive disruption, and ultimately, if they're going to use the same tools in the same way, they've got to come up with a different play in a different script. They're just repeating the sins of the past. If they're bringing that whole spin machine with them, then it's going to backfire. Borkowski does not believe the move should be interpreted as the Sussex is being welcomed back into the institutional royal family. He said the Royal family will push against this big time. They will not want them back in the camp. They've got to do this by themselves.

7:06 I don't believe this is reconciliation with the royal household at all. I think William will be rattled. It's disruptive having the Kine and Enable story, isn't it. You've got the Errand brother back again and that's not going to be easy for William, particularly if Harry whips up a huge amount of support. As for Megan, Borkowski said she's giving up her life to be back in the UK. She has always been seen as that pantomime villain in some ways, but it's not her culture that she's coming to. So it's a massive sacrifice for the family and the kids to be here away from what she knows, to be thrown into a very critical world of her So big respect to her for doing that for the sake of the kids, I assume, and also the sake of the marriage or pallis In just a moment, Tom Sykes was quite making the round telling page six. It's a huge slap in the face for William and it does also create serious risks for the monarchy. What is what happened if Charles invites Harry to join the Royal family for Christmas. What is going to happen if Harry wants to attend the Remembrance Day celebrations. Sykes said he had suspected something was a foot, but never imagined it would be anything of this magnitude or it happening this quickly.

8:13 He called the timetable for the move quite extraordinary, adding it is very clear that things haven't worked out in America and the way they thought they would. I think if there was another hundred million dollar deal on the table, they wouldn't be rushing home. Former Royal butler Grant Harold tells Casino Hawks we know Harry only told his father of his plans to return to the UK on Sunday, which is very short notice, especially as planning must have been going on for a while. It's shocking that he hasn't discussed it with his father. The only reason I can think of why he didn't tell the king because he didn't want Prince William to know. It's very childish, but I don't think he wants his brother to know what he's up to. And there you have it. If you'd like to email us or addresses The Palace intrig at gmail dot com. If you're on Spotify, leave us a comment. If you're on Apple, hit that button up there.

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