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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are planning to return to live in Britain, six years after leaving for the US, it is understood.
The couple and their two children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, are expected to relocate later in August to a non-royal residence.
The property is believed to be outside London, and the children are enrolled to start school in September, the Daily Telegraph and the Sun have reported.
King Charles was reportedly informed on Sunday that his son and daughter-in-law would return to Britain.
It comes after the Sussexes, who have lived in California since 2020, had a reunion with the king last month at Highgrove in Gloucestershire.
The king is said to welcome the opportunity to see more of his family in a personal capacity but there will be no change in their status as private individuals after relinquishing their official working roles within the royal family.
The couple will not be offered a “half-in half-out” option, it is understood, with that having been firmly rejected by the late Queen Elizabeth II at the so-called Sandringham summit in 2020, which thrashed out the terms of their departure from the UK and resulted in them officially stepping down as senior royals and no longer using their HRH titles.
There has been no official comment from the Sussexes.
The Prince and Princess of Wales are said to have also been informed of the decision.
William remains estranged from his brother after criticism by the couple aimed at him, Catherine, Charles and Camilla since their departure from the UK.
Former BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt suggested the couple’s return would have left William, the future king, “apoplectic”.
“In the long term, the return of the Sussexes to the UK opens up the prospect of two rival courts, William’s and Harry’s. In the short term, Harry will be able to deepen his rapprochement with his father. And his presence back home will make it harder for his brother to duck a reconciliation,” Hunt told the PA news agency.
“The surprise return of Harry and Meghan is likely to have left William apoplectic.”
The Sussexes are expected to retain their homes in Montecito, California, and Portugal, where they went on holiday earlier this summer.
The duke and duchess’s security arrangements have not been disclosed.
The long-running issue over their security meant that Prince Harry did not bring Meghan, 45, or their children to events in London last month, as had been originally planned.
Prince Harry, 41, has previously stressed he would not feel safe bringing his family back to the UK without police protection.
The Sussexes are not eligible to receive taxpayer-funded protection while in the UK, other than when within royal residences.
A Home Office spokesperson said on Wednesday night: “The UK government’s protective security system is rigorous and proportionate.
“It is our longstanding policy not to provide detailed information on those arrangements, as doing so could compromise their integrity and affect individuals’ security.”
Decisions on security for members of the royal family and other key public figures are taken by the executive committee for the protection of royalty and public figures, whose membership includes the Home Office, Metropolitan police and the royal household, who work together to advise the independent chair in making decisions, which are informed by expert risk assessments and in line with government policy.
In May 2025, after losing a legal challenge over his security in the UK, the Duke of Sussex said: “I can’t see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK at this point.”
In an interview with the BBC after the ruling, Prince Harry said he “would love a reconciliation” with the royal family. He said: “There have been so many disagreements between myself and some of my family,” but that he had now “forgiven” them.
“I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point continuing to fight any more, life is precious.”
Prince Harry added that the dispute over his security had “always been the sticking point”.
Asked whether he had asked the king to intervene in the dispute over security, he said: “I never asked him to intervene – I asked him to step out of the way and let the experts do their jobs.”
In July, the Duke of Sussex and six other co-claimants lost their privacy case against the publishers of the Daily Mail in London. The claimants, who included Doreen Lawrence and Elton John, sued Associated Newspapers Ltd over allegations of unlawful information gathering. Their claims were dismissed in their entirety by Mr Justice Nicklin.
Last year the Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed a fresh multi-year film and television deal with Netflix, after media reports suggested poor viewing figures meant the streaming company might not renew its contract with them.
Harry and Meghan struck the original five-year deal in 2020, reportedly worth $100m (£78m), which resulted in a number of projects, including the duchess’s lifestyle series With Love, Meghan.
Not all the couple’s forays into content creation have been commercially successful. In 2023, a $20m deal they had signed with Spotify to produce podcasts came to an end after just 12 episodes.
A YouGov poll in July found that only 22% of Britons saw Meghan in a positive light, compared with 65% who hold an unfavourable opinion of the former actor, with 33% seeing Harry positively and 58% negatively.
The education secretary, Lucy Powell, said she hoped the move would be “part of a bigger reconciliation” for the royal family.
“I think that the vast majority of your listeners will welcome that news and – they obviously are not working royals any more – and want to come back to this country,” she told LBC radio.
“I assume because we do have great schools, great education, that’s why many people do return to this country and choose this country to bring up their children in.
“And I hope that this is all part of a bigger reconciliation for the family because you know the royal family is very important to this country and to our reputation around the world, and you know I for one think it’s great to have Harry and Meghan and their family back here.”
