Six weeks after making their shock move from California to England’s idyllic Cotswolds, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are in the “honeymoon” phase of their new life, despite having yet to see King Charles, sources say.
Although Harry is thought to have had more than one phone conversation with Charles, father and son are said to have yet to meet in person while Charles and Queen Camilla are holidaying in Scotland.
The holiday included a stay at Balmoral Castle, where they were joined by Harry’s estranged brother Prince William, Princess Catherine and their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
The King and Queen, who remain in Scotland but come to London for meetings, will also take a tour of the Caribbean on October 27, so it may be some time before they see the Sussexes.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t still a good chance that Harry and his father will reconcile.
“Absolutely everyone hopes that father and son will have a closer, more special relationship,” a royal insider said. “It doesn’t do any good to have that information leak out every time they meet or talk.”
Another thing that doesn’t help father-son relationships is Charles Spencer’s new book about Diana, which is currently high on book lists.
Royal sources tell us Harry’s uncle Spencer received an award. amazing £4 million for book — “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister.” In it, she claims Charles felt on the phone that Diana would soon be forgotten after her death in 1997. This claim did not sit well with the King, whose representatives harshly denied the allegations.
Another source said: “The fact that Harry is only with his uncle in the summer shows that he has a good relationship with him, and the King is very angry about the book.”
As autumn approaches the English countryside and the Sussex boys (Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5) settle into their new school, many Brits are still baffled by what caused the Sussex jet to suddenly fly back to Harry’s hometown.
But we’re told Harry, 42, and Markle, 45, have been mulling over the decision to return to the UK for the past few years. In fact, this week Harry revealed how he was ‘depressed for two weeks’ following ‘Megxit’ in March 2020 and felt a ‘crash like nothing I’ve ever felt before’.
The Duke of Sussex, 42, said he had become “useless” after he and his wife sensationally abandoned both royal life and the UK and fled to British Columbia.
Neuroscientist Dr. “In Canada, when I was away from the stressful environment where my body was probably flooded with adrenaline, I had this adrenaline crash within two or three days; it was something I’d never experienced before,” she told Mary-Frances O’Connor in her new grief Masterclass.
“It was like I needed the stress to get the adrenaline that would make my brain work… I felt like I couldn’t function.”
The couple made the final decision to leave their Montetico estate after a summer break that included a reunion with Charles, 77, and his grandchildren and a visit to Diana’s ancestral estate, Althorp. They had to act quickly to send their children to school.
They’re excited to return to Harry’s hometown and now plan to stay there at least through the school year, which ends next summer, a source familiar with the matter tells Us.
This will give Harry time to work on a documentary marking the 30th anniversary of the death of his beloved mother Princess Diana and to direct the Invictus Games in Birmingham next year.
This also gives Harry enough time to receive his long-awaited armed security request from the British government, as well as his critical security briefing.
After that, the family could set up home even further afield, potentially to Canada or even Australia, places they both feel an affinity for. “They love to travel,” said a source familiar with the matter.
The Sussexes returned to live in the UK in late August after spending six years in North America. While they planned to live as an “international family” by keeping their homes in California and Portugal, they described the move as an “extended stay” with their children.
While Harry, Markle and the rest of the royal family are likely to make headlines again with “Christmas crisis”-style stories, the Sussexes do not plan to join the monarch and Harry’s brother William at the traditional festivities at Sandringham, according to the insider.
Instead, they will either stay in the same cottage they are currently staying in – multimillionaire financier Ian Wace’s estate in Northamptonshire – or return to California for a holiday. Either way, they will be joined by Markle’s mother, Doria Ragland.
“There is a hierarchy,” said one palace insider, “And the King is the CEO, he is the boss; whatever he says goes, so it is better not to put themselves in a difficult situation.”
After they were photographed holding hands on a lunch date at The Falkland Arms, a 16th-century pub in the Cotswolds village of Great Tew in Oxfordshire, Harry and Markle were rumored to be planning their first official public outing in the UK in a matter of days.
The couple was dressed casually; Markle opted for gluten-free fish and chips, while Harry opted for chicken, ham and leek pie.
Although the couple have yet to make an official appearance together, Markle was spotted having afternoon tea with campaigner Malala Yousafzai last Wednesday, on her first trip to London since returning to the UK.
Wearing a $2,300 outfit, the Duchess was spotted having afternoon tea with the 29-year-old Pakistani activist at the five-star Claridge hotel in tony Mayfair.
A source familiar with the matter stated that the two had previously bonded over their common passion for women’s education and said, “They go back a long way.”
In October 2020, Harry and Markle joined Malala, who at age 17 became the youngest ever Nobel laureate, for a virtual conversation celebrating International Day of the Girl.
Since arriving in the UK, the Sussexes have also been photographed spending time with various friends, including their former California neighbors Ellen DeGeneres, 68, and Portia de Rossi, 53, at another local pub in Cotsworlds. They also spent time with Markle’s close friend, Los Angeles-based entrepreneur and activist Kelly McKee Zajfen, and Zajfen shared a carousel of them on Instagram while visiting the couple in the United Kingdom.
The candid footage showed Markle holding her friend’s baby Jack in a bar, Harry cradling him on a rug on the floor, and a trip to the Soho Farmhouse.
Zajfen wrote in her caption: “To everyone we met or encountered, thank you for being so loving towards my friend. It was so beautiful to witness. She missed you too!”
Of course, Markle still has work to do. She recently launched “The Holiday Collection: Chapter One” for her lifestyle brand As Ever, including a $148 luxury advent calendar created in collaboration with Los Angeles chocolatier Compartés, featuring handcrafted chocolates inspired by her Montecito home and garden.
There’s also a wicker basket filled with items like mint, lemon, and ginger teas, a trio of fruit dips, floral sprinkles, and two scented candles, a leather As Ever tag, a chocolate holiday trio, and playing cards.
But the possibility of the former “Suits” actress appearing in the third season of the Netflix show “The Gentleman” (a possibility first reported by W) seems dead in the water.
An industry insider said: “It was something that came to his mind and was something he looked at, but it was only a brief idea and, as always, things escalated.
“But Meghan is always open to looking at things.”