Everything Meghan Markle has said about living in UK after she and Prince Harry announce return

Six years after stepping back as senior working royals and relocating to California, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are returning to the UK in the next few weeks.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex reportedly told King Charles of their plans to move this past weekend and reports say they have already enrolled their children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, in school.

The Sussexes will settle into a private, non-royal residence outside of London, and the children will attend schools in the surrounding area when the new term begins in September.

One contentious topic for the Sussexes since leaving the UK has been security. After Harry and Meghan stepped back, the pair lost their taxpayer-funded police protection, prompting Harry to contest the decision with a years-long legal battle.

In May last year, Harry told the BBC in a sit-down interview he could not 'see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK at this point', citing his security concerns.

“I love my country, I always have,” he added. “Despite what some people in that country have done.”

Meghan has previously addressed her concerns about taking her children to school in the UK and the attention that something as routine as the school run could attract. It is just one aspect of life in the UK that she has spoken about in relation to living there.

Meghan and Harry are moving back to the UK (Instagram/@meghan)

Education

In 2022, Meghan shred her concerns about sending her children to school in an interview with The Cut. The magazine reported: “Earlier in our conversation about her goals for the life she’s creating here, she’d remarked upon how, if Archie were in school in the U.K., she’d never be able to do school pickup and drop-off without it being a royal photo call with a press pen of 40 people snapping pictures.”

The Duchess of Sussex was quoted as saying: “Sorry, I have a problem with that. That doesn’t make me obsessed with privacy. That makes me a strong and good parent protecting my child.”

Privacy

Another concern Meghan raised before stepping back was a lack of privacy from the British tabloids.

“My British friends said to me, ‘I’m sure he’s great but you shouldn’t do it because the British tabloids will destroy your life,’” she shared in a 2019 interview with Tom Bradby.

“And I, very naively—I’m American. We don’t have that here.”

She added: "I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a ‘stiff upper lip’" Meghan told Bradby, "but I think that what that does internally is probably really damaging."

Harry condemned the ‘wave of abuse and harassment’ faced by Meghan, which started when their relationship came to light a decade ago.

The statement was groundbreaking, formally rejecting the intense media scrutiny and ‘racial undertones’.

It said: "Some of this has been very public - the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments.”

During the couple's interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan spoke candidly about her mental health during her time as a working royal.

The Sussexes visited the UK in July (Instagram/@meghan)

Home life

The couple once lived at Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace and Meghan shared an adorable anecdote from this period.

“Nottingham Cottage was so small,” Meghan recalled in the couple’s 2022 docu-series, Harry & Meghan. “He would hit his head constantly in that place ’cause he’s so tall.”

The former Suits star described that period as a meaningful chapter of their lives, saying, “It was just a chapter in our lives where I don’t think anyone could believe what it was actually like behind the scenes.”

The couple eventually moved to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, England, a home Meghan described as a place filled with memories.

“From our courtship, our engagement, our wedding, our walks,” she recalled. “And then where we ended up, you know, having our baby.”

Adjusting to the royal formalities also took time. Meghan said she quickly realised that the formality associated with the monarchy during public appearances were also expected privately.

“I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside,” she explained. “That there is a forward-facing way of being, and then you close the door and you go, ‘Oh, great. Okay, we can relax now.’ But that formality carries over on both sides, and that was surprising to me.”

She recalled experiencing that difference particularly when she first met Harry’s older brother, Prince William, and his wife, Kate Middleton. Meghan said they came over for dinner while she was wearing ripped jeans and was barefoot.

“I was a hugger, always been a hugger,” she recalled. “I didn’t realize that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits.”

Music

Music was another part of British life that Meghan came to enjoy. In 2025, she shared on With Love, Meghan that one of the things she missed most about the UK was the radio station Magic which is known for playing retro hits from the 1980s and 1990s.

“Honestly, one of the things I miss the most about the UK. is the radio station Magic,” she said.