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By Ellie Cook
Senior Defense Reporter
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Prince Harry has said there were "lots of reasons" why his family returned to the United Kingdom last month after several years living in the United States, refusing to be drawn on details behind the highly scrutinized choice to relocate during a new media appearance.
The Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, settled down in California after relinquishing their royal duties in 2020 amid a rift between the couple and other members of the Royal Family. Meghan was born and raised in southern California.
They then moved back to the U.K. last month along with the couple's two children, 7-year-old Prince Archie and 5-year-old Princess Lilibet.
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“It’s been great to be back on British soil," Prince Harry told Canada's CTV broadcaster on Friday, shortly after completing a charity skydive north of Toronto.
Asked why the family made the decision to relocate back to the U.K., Prince Harry said there were "lots of reasons" behind the move but offered no further details.
"The kids are happy in school, and it gives me a chance to be able to really focus on the Invictus Games in Birmingham in July next year," he added.
Newsweek has reached out to Archewell, the organization founded by Harry and Meghan, for more information via email on Saturday.
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Prince Harry founded the Invictus Games, with the first competition held in the U.K. in 2014 for wounded, sick and injured military personnel from across the world. The 2027 Games will be the first hosted in the U.K. since the initial events more than a decade ago.
The family is thought to be currently living in a private residence in the Cotswolds, an idyllic area outside of London. Photographs published by British tabloid media earlier this week appeared to show Meghan meeting U.S. television host Ellen DeGeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi, in a Cotswolds pub.
Archie and Lilibet reportedly switched schools within days of starting due to concerns over security during the daily commute from their home.
"It’s a real shame, because they absolutely adored the school, the kids and their parents," an unnamed source, described as a friend of the couple, told Hello! earlier this month.
A spokesperson for the couple told the magazine the decision to move schools was about security and should "in no way be interpreted as a reflection on the school or the exceptional care the children have received there."
Prince Harry has been engaged in a long-running legal battle over security protection for his family when in the U.K. He lost a legal challenge in May 2025, but the BBC reported this month that the body responsible for overseeing royal security would re-evaluate the Sussexes' publicly funded police protection now that they are U.K. residents.
Family Tensions and Ailing Fortunes
The Duke and Duchess announced in early 2020 they would stop working as prominent members of the Royal Family and would become "finally independent" from the British monarchy.
The couple said at the time they had spent "many months" debating the decision, and it was widely reported other senior royals were not consulted about the change.
The Duchess said in a 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, alongside Prince Harry, that a member of the Royal Family—whom she did not name—had asked how dark Archie's skin would be when he was born. Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, is Black.
Prince William, Harry's brother and the heir to the throne, denied the Royal Family was racist.
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The Duke and Duchess criticized the Royal Family on several occasions and rarely returned to the U.K. during their years in the U.S.
As they departed for North America, it wasn't immediately clear how the Sussexes would earn an income as non-working royals.
The couple had mixed success, but signed a deal with Netflix, and appeared in a 2022 documentary the streaming platform described last year as its fifth most popular documentary series of all time.
Prince Harry penned his tell-all memoir, Spare, and Meghan launched a lifestyle brand. She also briefly hosted a Spotify podcast series.
Reports then emerged last month claiming that Meghan, a former actress and star of legal drama Suits, was in early talks to appear in a possible third season of hit Netflix drama, The Gentlemen. Later reports claimed the discussions had been tabled after backlash in the U.K. or that an offer was never made for the Duchess to act in the Guy Ritchie series.
The couple are still not working royals and will not carry out official engagements in the U.K., according to a letter sent on behalf of King Charles, Harry's father, this month, the BBC reported.
"The charitable work of the Duke and Duchess is a personal matter for them both and undertaken in their private capacity," the letter sets out.
People Think Meghan Markle Is Canadian
Asked on Friday why he kept returning to Canada, Harry said, "I love Canada. My wife lived here for seven years, most people thought that she was Canadian."
Canada has "a special place in my heart,” he remarked.
When they announced their split from the Royal Family in 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan initially said they would divide their time between the U.K. and Canada.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Matthew Cannon and Anthony Murray.
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