Aug. 25, 2026

Why Did Harry and Meghan’s American Dream Fall Apart?

Show Notes
Transcript

Why are Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leaving California? Did the Sussexes run out of momentum in Hollywood? Was Harry desperately lonely in Montecito—and are their neighbors really pleased to see them go?

As Jennie Bond warns against a new “pile-on” against Meghan, American commentators including Megyn Kelly, Meghan McCain and allies of Donald Trump celebrate the couple’s departure. Hollywood sources claim Harry and Meghan never established a clear identity outside the Royal Family, while Montecito residents accuse them of entitlement and creating endless drama.

We examine whether Harry was always destined to return to Britain, why Meghan may be making a major sacrifice for her family, and what the move will mean for Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Could the children finally develop relationships with King Charles, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis? Will Meghan and Princess Catherine arrange royal playdates? And how will Prince William react when the brother he no longer trusts is suddenly living nearby?

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/palace-intrigue-harry-meghan-the-crown-royal-family-news-and-gossip--4522904/support.

Palace Intrigue is a daily British royal family podcast covering King Charles, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton and the House of Windsor. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:11.960
Ah Callaroga Shark Media. Hello and welcome through Palace Intrigue.

2
00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:15.560
I am your host, Mark Rancis. Royal expert Jenny Bond

3
00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:18.679
tells The Daily Mail. I think we should beware a

4
00:00:18.760 --> 00:00:22.160
pileon Megan in particular, and I can see that already happening.

5
00:00:22.679 --> 00:00:25.320
This is the decision they've made, probably for the sake

6
00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:28.320
of their children as much as for Harry. Perhaps Megan

7
00:00:28.359 --> 00:00:30.559
is taking one for the team here because I'm not

8
00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:32.759
sure this is her life's desire to live back in

9
00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:35.640
the UK. We have to remember that this is a

10
00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:38.359
woman who said that she was driven to suicidal thoughts

11
00:00:38.359 --> 00:00:40.640
by the way she felt she was treated when she

12
00:00:40.759 --> 00:00:43.119
lived here as a member of the royal family. And

13
00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:47.439
that's why I say we must beware a pylon. Pr

14
00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:52.079
consultant Mark Borkowski argues the Sussex will need to proceed carefully.

15
00:00:52.200 --> 00:00:53.920
He said, it's clear they've run out of steam in

16
00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:55.799
the US, so they now have to be very cautious

17
00:00:55.799 --> 00:00:59.560
in how they reintegrate themselves back into British society. Borkowski

18
00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:02.159
also said these Harry's return as something deeper than simply

19
00:01:02.200 --> 00:01:05.200
a career decision. This guy has been brought up to

20
00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:07.879
be part of the establishment, born into the royal family

21
00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:10.200
and then gone to the army with the values of church,

22
00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:13.319
state and whatever. It's been embedded in him from an

23
00:01:13.319 --> 00:01:16.599
early age, and no amount of Californian son could remove that.

24
00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:20.159
First and foremost, Harry will have to try and mend

25
00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:22.840
his relationship with his brother, and that will require eating

26
00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:26.200
an enormous amount of humble pie, both for him and Meghan.

27
00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:29.239
He's got to win back William and his father. Royal

28
00:01:29.239 --> 00:01:32.040
commentator Richard fitz Williams told The Male it provokes a

29
00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:35.120
crisis for the monarchy because the monarchy's responses are often

30
00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:38.000
poor when they don't know what to expect with this.

31
00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:41.159
You certainly don't know what to expect. All sorts of

32
00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:45.079
things may happen. This is actually an extremely serious situation.

33
00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:47.840
What they have done is very clearly chosen King Charles's

34
00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:50.159
reign to do this, knowing their options might be very

35
00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:54.840
limited when and if William becomes king. I strongly suspect

36
00:01:54.840 --> 00:01:57.120
that William could look very closely at their titles and

37
00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:00.040
possibly the titles of their children. William will see this

38
00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:02.799
total proof they couldn't be trusted for a single second.

39
00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:07.040
Donald Trump's allies are taking their own shots at Harry

40
00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:09.520
and Meghan. Katie Miller, the wife of White House Deputy

41
00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:12.840
Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, wrote on x they are

42
00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:16.039
moving back to Britain because they don't like President Trump.

43
00:02:16.360 --> 00:02:19.120
She linked to a People report noting that Harry and

44
00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:21.719
Meghan have made no secret of their disillusionment with the

45
00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:25.919
current White House ahead of midterm elections. Miller also wrote

46
00:02:25.960 --> 00:02:28.360
that Megan always just wanted to be a celebrity, claimed

47
00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:32.199
the couple was broke. Meghan Kelly also weighed in responding

48
00:02:32.199 --> 00:02:35.680
to commentator Dan Wooten's post about MEGSI being reversed. Kelly wrote,

49
00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:38.159
We've done our time here in America. My dear friend.

50
00:02:38.919 --> 00:02:42.479
Former view host Meghan McCain reacted on ex posting, one

51
00:02:42.520 --> 00:02:45.240
thing about Americans is we can see through bullshit and

52
00:02:45.319 --> 00:02:49.120
we don't like entitled grifters. She continued, they could never

53
00:02:49.159 --> 00:02:50.919
hack it here and truly no one gives a crap

54
00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:53.879
about Dalist Royals. Good luck to our friends in the UK.

55
00:02:54.039 --> 00:02:58.120
There your problem now, pers Morgan posted. The one nailed

56
00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:01.280
down certainty about the return of the Sus Circus clowns

57
00:03:01.319 --> 00:03:03.960
to Britain is that there will be endless drama, damaging

58
00:03:04.039 --> 00:03:06.479
leaks by them to the media about the royal family,

59
00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:12.199
and simultaneous hypocritical whining about privacy invasion by the same media,

60
00:03:12.919 --> 00:03:14.840
As is so often the case, we are left to

61
00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:17.599
wonder what is going through the Duke of Sussex's head.

62
00:03:17.879 --> 00:03:20.599
Perhaps over the summer he caught the Odyssey, the tale

63
00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:24.120
of the noble bearded military veteran who heads off overseas,

64
00:03:24.280 --> 00:03:28.520
keeps doing absolutely insane things that delay his already circuitous return,

65
00:03:28.599 --> 00:03:30.360
and then ends up the rooned in a sun drenched

66
00:03:30.439 --> 00:03:33.039
spot with a beautiful woman before getting a grip and

67
00:03:33.080 --> 00:03:34.759
heading home to hang out with the old man in

68
00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:40.039
the palace and thought OMG so relatable. Page six Hollywood

69
00:03:40.039 --> 00:03:42.919
reports a movie biz source told them the couple couldn't

70
00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:46.479
drop their tedious royal pretensions in town. The source said

71
00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:48.439
there was a thirst for them to sort of find

72
00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:51.639
a way to maintain their royal lifestyle in terms of

73
00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:54.680
how people interacted with them and respected them, and you

74
00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:57.120
know how they moved throughout the world, and then I

75
00:03:57.120 --> 00:03:59.479
think it all fell apart because they never figured out

76
00:03:59.639 --> 00:04:01.639
who they they were or who they wanted to be.

77
00:04:02.280 --> 00:04:06.000
Like the goalposts kept moving she was the more thirsty

78
00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:07.879
of the two of them. Monestery, though, I think they

79
00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:10.479
both wanted to prove a point to the royal family

80
00:04:10.520 --> 00:04:13.360
that they could be as meaningful as they believed themselves

81
00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:16.240
to be in the UK. As for Prince Ary, he's

82
00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:19.040
not a producer. He doesn't care about producing things like

83
00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:22.040
he's always been about being of service and doing charity

84
00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:26.800
and giving back. He's never had a business idea. News

85
00:04:26.839 --> 00:04:29.399
Nation reports that Harry has been desperately lonely in California,

86
00:04:29.399 --> 00:04:31.720
according to someone described as a friend. The source said

87
00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:33.839
he doesn't really have any real friends in the area

88
00:04:33.879 --> 00:04:37.560
except for fellow polo player Nacho Forgeris, and Nacho travels

89
00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:40.720
constantly for polo matches. He is still very close with

90
00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:43.319
the band of brothers who were at his wedding, particularly

91
00:04:43.720 --> 00:04:45.959
Guy Pelly and Mark Dyer, but they live in England

92
00:04:45.959 --> 00:04:47.920
and the time zones are so different it's very hard

93
00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:52.079
to talk regularly. In the La Times, Maureen McNamara writes,

94
00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:55.040
it's not like the family is fleeing under cover of night,

95
00:04:55.199 --> 00:04:57.680
like the Colts leaving Baltimore to hold up in some

96
00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:00.519
air b and B while megan research, which is good

97
00:05:00.519 --> 00:05:03.839
public schools, and Harry obsesses over the UK version of Redfinn.

98
00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:06.360
What may feel like a bombshell to the public, has

99
00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:08.439
no doubt been in the works for some time. They

100
00:05:08.439 --> 00:05:10.079
didn't seem to be the kind of parents who just

101
00:05:10.199 --> 00:05:13.120
spring an international move on their kids. I knew we

102
00:05:13.160 --> 00:05:15.000
said we were going to the movies, but we're really

103
00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:17.759
moving to England, so get in the damn car. Not

104
00:05:17.879 --> 00:05:19.920
to mention all the staff here and in the UK

105
00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:22.279
that would need to be involved, or get it. Gardens

106
00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:25.560
don't plan or manage themselves, so while it is great

107
00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:28.120
fun to speculate, it is just another example of rich

108
00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:31.240
folk fleeing California's high taxes. Are they worried that David

109
00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:33.959
Ellison is going to make everyone move to Nashville? The

110
00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:37.439
answer seems pretty simple and obvious. Harry may have stepped

111
00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:39.720
away from his family in royal duties, but he is

112
00:05:39.720 --> 00:05:41.759
still a prince of the realm. That he would never

113
00:05:41.800 --> 00:05:44.399
return to the UK was always unlikely, and his father

114
00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:47.040
is seventy seven and has cancer. It doesn't take a

115
00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:50.480
royal watcher to connect those dots. And though it rains

116
00:05:50.519 --> 00:05:52.839
a lot in the Cotswolds, the traffic will no doubt

117
00:05:53.079 --> 00:05:57.560
be an improvement. Page six spoke with Montecito residents after

118
00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:00.000
the news. Broke once said, when we first heard Harry

119
00:06:00.040 --> 00:06:03.279
and Megan were moving to Montecito, there was definitely some concerns.

120
00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:06.160
There had already been so much negative press and attention

121
00:06:06.279 --> 00:06:08.360
surrounding them in the royal family, and I think people

122
00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:11.040
worried about what kind of spotlight that could bring to

123
00:06:11.079 --> 00:06:14.439
such a quiet community. Now that we're hearing they're moving

124
00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:17.120
back to the UK, I couldn't be more thrilled. Another

125
00:06:17.160 --> 00:06:20.319
neighbor was even more directed, telling Page six good riddance

126
00:06:20.600 --> 00:06:22.399
that source alledg to that Harry and Meghan were always

127
00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:25.600
asking for grandiose favors because of their titles, while never

128
00:06:25.639 --> 00:06:28.920
giving anything back to their friends of the actual Montecito community.

129
00:06:29.639 --> 00:06:32.000
The town is exhausted by them, the entitlement and the

130
00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:34.959
never ending drama. Paid six also reports that some locals

131
00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:37.399
have jokingly referred to the couple as the Grit and

132
00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:45.240
Griftess of Sussex more palcing just a moment. Former royal

133
00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:48.920
butler Grant Harold tells the Mirror Archie and Lilibet's whole

134
00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:51.399
lives will be changed by this move to the UK.

135
00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:54.199
Life in America is very different to life in the UK,

136
00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:56.959
especially the part of the US where Harry and Meghan

137
00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:00.199
set up home. Everything will change from their school to

138
00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:02.439
their home lives. Not to mention they will have to

139
00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:05.399
get used to the British weather. But one of the

140
00:07:05.399 --> 00:07:07.680
biggest positives will be that they hopefully get to know

141
00:07:07.720 --> 00:07:10.759
their extended family. Let's be honest, they don't really know

142
00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:13.560
their dad's family at all. Archie spent time with the King,

143
00:07:13.639 --> 00:07:15.639
William and Kate when he was a baby, but he

144
00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:18.000
won't remember that, and we don't know if William and

145
00:07:18.120 --> 00:07:21.319
Kate have even met Lillibert. When you think about it,

146
00:07:21.319 --> 00:07:23.839
it's really sad the fact that Archie and Lilibert have

147
00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:27.199
missed out on these close family relationships because of adult drama.

148
00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:29.399
And the same goes for George, Charlotte and Louis. They

149
00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:31.639
loved Harry and will have missed him, but this move

150
00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:34.480
to the UK could change this. I can't imagine that

151
00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:36.920
Kate and Megan will be setting up a playdate straight away,

152
00:07:37.399 --> 00:07:39.399
but I think both women will want their children to

153
00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:41.959
get to know their cousins. We know how important the

154
00:07:42.040 --> 00:07:44.959
cousin bond has been with this generation of royals. With

155
00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:47.120
William and Harry extremely close to the Tyndalls and the

156
00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:49.920
York Sisters, I think they will want their children to

157
00:07:49.959 --> 00:07:53.439
have that when they grow up. Technically, if this move

158
00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:55.879
becomes permanent and we could see Archie and Lilibert taking

159
00:07:55.879 --> 00:07:58.199
more prominent roles in the royal family as they grow up,

160
00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:00.879
they both have royal titles US six and seventh in

161
00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:03.319
line to the throne. I can't imagine this is something

162
00:08:03.319 --> 00:08:06.600
Megan and Harry will want, but you never know. In

163
00:08:06.639 --> 00:08:09.959
a separate interview, Harold told The Independent, William is somebody

164
00:08:09.959 --> 00:08:12.199
that when you break trust and you go beyond a

165
00:08:12.199 --> 00:08:15.560
certain point, there's no going back. Before William would have

166
00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:17.759
said he's five six thousand miles away and it's not

167
00:08:17.800 --> 00:08:20.920
my problem. He's in another country. But now he's suddenly

168
00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:23.120
back on the doorstep. I just don't think he's going

169
00:08:23.160 --> 00:08:26.480
to be happy about the situation at all, and they

170
00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:29.040
have it. If you'd like to email us our addresses

171
00:08:29.079 --> 00:08:31.120
the Palace intric at gmail and dot com. If you're

172
00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:34.360
on Spotify, drop us a comment. If you're on Apple,

173
00:08:34.440 --> 00:08:37.240
hit that button up there that says listen uninterrupted and

174
00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:39.799
for five bucks a month, you get this show commercial free,

175
00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:44.120
along with thousands of others from Klaroga Medium and Mark Francis.

176
00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:46.559
My thanks to you, John McDermott. This is palace, intriguan

177
00:08:47.240 --> 00:08:47.799
good times,

Why Did Harry and Meghan’s American Dream Fall Apart?

Listen On

Recent Episodes