Harry and Meghan are reportedly returning to the UK after six years in the US
Prince Harry and Meghan are planning to move their family back to the UK later this month after six years of living in the US, according to British media reports, but are not expected to return as working members of the royal family.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are planning to settle at a private, non-royal residence outside London, The Daily Telegraph reported.
The King was informed on Sunday of the couple’s plans and is said to welcome the opportunity to spend more time with his grandchildren in a personal capacity.
Harry and Meghan stepped down as working royals in 2020 and moved to California, where they pursued commercial deals, including contracts with Netflix and Spotify.
Below is a timeline of the key events in the couple’s rift with the royal family and their move to the US.
July: Prince Harry and American actor Meghan Markle meet on a blind date set up by a mutual friend.
November: Harry confirms that Meghan is his girlfriend and condemns press coverage of her. He says he fears for her safety and says press coverage crossed the line and used “racial undertones” in its stories. His comments remind many that his mother, Princess Diana, had died in a car crash while being pursued by photographers.
November: Harry and Meghan announce their engagement.
May: Meghan and Harry get married in a grand ceremony at Windsor Castle.
May: Meghan and Harry welcome their first child, a son called Archie.
October: Harry launches lawsuits against the owners of the Sun and the Mirror over claims of alleged phone hacking.
January: Harry and Meghan announce they are to step down as working royals.
February: The committee that oversees royal security decides Harry will not receive the same level of taxpayer-funded protection as he did when he was a full-time royal.
June: The couple moves to Meghan’s native California.
February: Meghan wins an invasion of privacy lawsuit against Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers over publication of a letter she wrote in 2018 to her estranged father.
March: Harry and Meghan are interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on CBS. Meghan says a member of the royal family had made a racist comment and she had been pushed to the point of considering suicide, while Harry reveals King Charles no longer takes his calls.
The late Queen Elizabeth issues a statement in response. “The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately,” the statement says.
June: The couple’s second child, a daughter, Lilibet, is born. Lilibet is a family nickname for Elizabeth.
August: Harry files a lawsuit against the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police over his security arrangements in the UK since he stepped down as a working royal.
September: While Harry and Meghan are in London on a visit, Queen Elizabeth dies. The couple stay in Britain for her funeral.
January: Harry publishes his memoir Spare, detailing his relationship with his family. Among the most notable revelations, Harry says his brother William knocked him to the floor during a 2019 argument at his London home over Meghan. William called Meghan “difficult”, “rude”, and “abrasive”, Harry writes. He also says he and Prince William had asked their father not to marry Camilla.
May: Harry attends his father’s coronation without Meghan. He does not sit with other senior royals.
June: Harry testifies in his case against the Mirror Group, becoming the first British royal in more than a century to appear in the witness box.
December: A three-day court hearing begins over Harry’s security arrangements in the UK. Lawyers for the prince argue that the decision to downgrade his protection was “unlawful and unfair”.
December: Harry wins his case against the Mirror Group when a judge rules that Mirror newspapers had hired private investigators to snoop for personal information and engaged in illegal phone hacking for well over a decade. He is awarded legal costs and £140,000 in damages.
February: Buckingham Palace announces King Charles has been diagnosed with a form of cancer and will postpone public engagements to undergo treatment. Harry is photographed arriving at his father’s London residence for a brief meeting.
February: The High Court dismisses Harry’s security claim. He appeals the decision.
March: Kate, the Princess of Wales, says that she is undergoing preventative chemotherapy.
January: The publisher of The Sun settles a lawsuit, offering Harry “a full and unequivocal apology” for intruding on his private life between 1996 and 2011, including incidents of unlawful activities.
April: At an appeal over the changes to his police protection, Harry’s lawyer warns his “life is at stake”.
May: Harry loses his legal challenge over his security arrangements. Later that same day, he says he wants reconciliation with the royal family, explaining that his father, King Charles, no longer speaks to him due to the security row, adding that he does not know how long the monarch has left to live.
September: Harry arrives in the UK to visit his charities amid signs of a thaw in the frigid relationship between him and the rest of the royal family. The trip corresponds with the third anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Harry joins King Charles for tea in London, marking the first time they have met in more than a year.
July: King Charles hosts Harry and meets with his family for the first time in years as they try to repair their rift. Harry, Meghan and their two children met with the King and Queen at Highgrove House, a country estate west of London.
August: The couple plans to move with Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, from California to Britain for an extended period. The children will begin school there in September, but the couple will not return to royal duties, according to media reports.
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