Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are reportedly returning to Britain after six years in California, proving once again that no country can satisfy people committed to perpetual dissatisfaction.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex plan to relocate to a private residence outside London with their children, Archie and Lilibet, who are expected to begin attending a British school in September. King Charles reportedly welcomes the opportunity to see more of his grandchildren.
Harry and Meghan will remain private citizens rather than resume work as senior royals. In other words, they appear interested in returning to Britain without necessarily accepting the responsibilities they abandoned in 2020.
Reports suggest several factors influenced the move, including family reconciliation, the children’s education and Meghan’s potential return to acting. Their apparent disillusionment with President Donald Trump and the direction of the United States has also been cited.
Katie Miller, wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, summarized that political explanation bluntly: “They are moving back to Britain because they don’t like President Trump.”
If that is genuinely part of their reasoning, America will somehow endure the loss.
The country gave Harry and Meghan privacy, luxury, enormous media contracts and a mansion in Montecito after they publicly condemned the institution that had provided their titles and international prominence.
They responded by producing interviews, documentaries, podcasts and a memoir centered largely on their grievances with the Royal Family.
Now the couple is heading back to the same country they dramatically left, apparently hoping to establish a comfortable private life near the monarchy without returning to full royal service.
That arrangement captures the Sussex formula perfectly: retain the titles, preserve the commercial opportunities and avoid the obligations.
The irony becomes sharper when Trump’s treatment of Harry is considered. After questions arose about whether Harry’s admitted drug use should have affected his US immigration status, Trump declined to pursue deportation and said he would leave the prince alone.
Harry later criticized Trump’s remarks concerning NATO allies and the Afghanistan war. Harry’s military service gives him every right to defend those who served beside him, but Trump was hardly obligated to grant him the same political courtesy.
The couple’s return also revives the inevitable fight over security. Harry previously challenged the loss of automatic taxpayer-funded police protection after stepping away from royal duties. British officials must now determine what arrangements are appropriate for a wealthy, commercially active couple who voluntarily rejected their official roles.
America owes Harry and Meghan nothing, and they owe America nothing beyond basic respect for the country that hosted them.
Still, their departure completes a remarkably predictable circle. They left Britain complaining about royal life, built an American brand around those complaints and are now returning to Britain amid complaints about American politics.
Perhaps the problem was never the palace, Britain or the White House.
Perhaps Harry and Meghan simply require a permanent grievance—and whichever country hosts them gets the privilege of providing it.
