Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, left Britain six years ago in a break with the royal family that opened painful public conversations about race, the monarchy and the role of the tabloids.
Now, the couple — who are, officially, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex — are moving back from the United States with their children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5.
One thing is clear: They will not take up the royal duties they stepped away from in 2020. But much else remains uncertain.
Why did they leave?
Their departure from Britain came just two years after the couple’s fairy-tale wedding — once seen as the start of a new era for a tradition-bound, if not downright stuffy, monarchy. To many Britons, Meghan, a biracial American actress with a successful career of her own, represented modernity.
Relentless tabloid coverage after the wedding, which was often aggressively hostile toward Meghan, took a toll on the couple. According to Harry, the royal family’s reluctance to offer public support to Meghan, even as her mental health worsened, led to a souring of relations.
In January 2020, they announced that they would “step back” from their duties and split their time between Britain and the United States. They planned to “carve out a progressive new role” in the monarchy, they said.
Queen Elizabeth II said at the time in a statement that she was “entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan’s desire to create a new life as a young family.” She added, “Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working members of the royal family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family.”
Buckingham Palace said the couple would stop using their loftiest titles, give up state funding and repay at least $3 million in taxpayer money that had been used to refurbish their official residence.
How did it affect the royal family?
It was a serious rupture. Their departure — called “Megxit” by some tabloids — and its fallout brought embarrassing new attention to the palace. Again and again, Harry and Meghan have gone public with their hurt.
In March 2021, during an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan said a member of the royal household had worried about how dark the skin of their unborn baby would be. She said she had been suicidal before they left Britain.
In December 2022, a few months after Queen Elizabeth died, the couple shared more in a Netflix docuseries. The next month, Harry released an emotional memoir, “Spare,” in which, among many other revelations, he accused Prince William of knocking him to the floor. (Kensington Palace has long refused to comment on that accusation.)
William, apparently, was furious about the book, in which Harry characterized him this way: “My beloved brother, my arch nemesis.” Their relationship is said to have remained icy, and a trip that Harry made to Britain last month ended without a reunion.
King Charles III was informed of the family’s impending move on Sunday, according to one person familiar with Harry’s decision.
So what changed? Why now?
It’s not clear. One factor may be Charles’s cancer diagnosis, which came in early 2024. In 2025, Harry said he would love to reconcile with his family during an emotional BBC interview.
“Life is precious,” Harry said. “I don’t know how much longer my father has.”
Since then, Harry and Charles, 77, appear to have been healing their rift. The two met for tea at the king’s London residence last September, and last month, Harry and Meghan met with Charles and Queen Camilla.
For that visit, they brought the children, who had not seen their grandfather in several years. A return to Britain would allow the family to see more of him.
What will they do?
One person said Harry and Meghan’s children had been enrolled in school in time for them to start in September.
It’s not clear what professional life will look like for Harry and Meghan.
They are not going to start working as royals again, two people familiar with their decision said. But they won’t want for cash: News reports suggest that they have a net worth of around $60 million. And they still have a deal with Netflix.
And there may be another Nextflix project in the offing. Representatives for Meghan have had exploratory talks about her joining a third season of “The Gentlemen,” Guy Ritchie’s Netflix crime series, according to two people briefed on the discussions. One important caveat: Netflix has not yet ordered a third season of “The Gentlemen.”
Netflix declined to comment, as did Toff Guy Films, one of the production companies behind the series. The publicity firm Sunshine Sachs, which represents Meghan, also declined to comment.
It’s not clear where they will live. But it’s unlikely that they will return to royal accommodation because they are not working royals.
What about their security?
This is a major question.
In the past, Harry has accused Buckingham Palace of preventing his family’s return to Britain by refusing to provide armed protection. There were reports in December that the issue was under review, but it is not clear what sort of security the family will have in Britain. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Thursday that the couple’s security arrangements were a “private matter.”
Harry was embroiled for years in lawsuits with British tabloids over their aggressive coverage of him during the 2000s. Those cases have now ended, but the couple’s return is sure to spark a feeding frenzy among the tabloids.
Brooks Barnes and Nicole Sperling contributed reporting.
