Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, arrived in the United Kingdom on Wednesday with their two children, marking a significant return six years after they stepped away from royal duties and relocated to California.
The family flew privately from the United States and landed at Birmingham Airport shortly before midday, according to the BBC. A spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said only that “this is not something we would comment on.” There was no visible police presence as they departed the airport.
Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, are enrolled in British schools and are expected to begin classes next week. The family plans to base itself at a private, non-royal residence outside London, widely reported as likely in the Cotswolds area near King Charles’s Highgrove estate. They will maintain their home in Montecito, California, and a property in Portugal.
The couple will not resume roles as working members of the royal family. They remain private individuals under the terms agreed when they left senior royal life in 2020.
King Charles was informed of the plans earlier this month. Sources close to the monarch have indicated he welcomes the chance to spend more time with his son and grandchildren in a private capacity. The family visited the king at Highgrove in July, the first time he had seen Archie and Lilibet in person in more than four years. Relations with Prince William remain strained.
The move follows years of public tension that began with the couple’s decision to step back from royal duties, their subsequent move to the United States, high-profile interviews, and Harry’s memoir Spare. Security arrangements continue to be a sensitive issue after Harry lost automatic publicly funded protection.
The return represents a major shift for a family that once said it could not imagine bringing the children back to Britain. Whether the stay becomes permanent remains unclear.
