Six years after their royal exit, Meghan and Harry are heading back to the U.K. What changed?

Unpacking the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s return to England after six years of building a life in California.

After six years of stateside living following a dramatic exit from the royal family amid much turmoil, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry shocked the masses when it was revealed they are heading back across the pond.

On Wednesday, Aug. 19, it was reported that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their two children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, are gearing up to return to England later this month, with the children enrolled in school there for the fall. The family will reportedly live in a private, non-royal residence outside London while maintaining their homes in California and Portugal.

The development is an interesting one — and shocking to many who follow the royals — because it arrives after the family spent six years building a life in Montecito, Ca., amid turmoil within the royal family, major legal battles over protection that did not end in Harry’s favor and, of course, their dramatic decision to quit royal duties. Now the question on everybody’s mind is: What changed?

When they first absconded from the U.K. in 2020, it was a dramatic, high-profile move. They were stepping down from royal duties and seeking a less public life with more control over their privacy and finances. 

The dramatic exit, as some may recall, was assisted by none other than Tyler Perry. After a brief stint in Canada, the producer let them stay at his Beverly Hills home, provided them with security, and even helped them get to California on his private plane while they sorted things out. Though Perry has kind of always been in Meghan’s corner, the two hadn’t even met when he first reached out ahead of her 2018 wedding to essentially let her know he was there if she ever needed support. Years later, he became godfather to Lilibet.

It was understood then, and later confirmed in Harry’s memoir, “Spare,” that there had also been a serious rift between Harry and his brother, Prince William, along with tensions with their father, King Charles III. In fact, things may have even come to blows between the brothers at one point. Harry alleged in his memoir that William physically attacked him during a 2019 argument.

A lot has changed in the royal family since then. Both Charles and Catherine, Princess of Wales, announced cancer diagnoses in 2024. Kate later announced she was in remission, while Harry has publicly expressed a desire to reconcile with his family.

“I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” Harry told the BBC at the time. “I don’t know how much longer my father has.”

Recent months have brought signs of a thaw between Harry and his father, including a reported private reunion with the King this summer. His relationship with William, however, appears to remain murkier.

Meanwhile, the Sussexes have spent the past six years becoming bona fide Californians. They’ve popped up at major charity and celebrity events, ranging from the Fifteen Percent Pledge’s annual fundraising gala to Kris Jenner’s star-studded 70th birthday bash, while also launching a major partnership with Netflix that produced several projects to varying degrees of success.

Their 2022 docuseries, “Harry & Meghan,” was a massive hit for the streamer. Other projects, including “Polo,” landed with considerably less fanfare. Then came “With Love, Meghan,” the Duchess of Sussex’s highly anticipated lifestyle series, which debuted in Netflix’s global Top 10 before attracting more modest viewership later on.

Their original blockbuster Netflix deal ultimately came to an end in 2025; however, the relationship didn’t disappear completely. Instead, Archewell Productions moved into a multiyear first-look deal with the streamer. Earlier this year, Netflix and Meghan also ended their partnership on her lifestyle brand, As Ever, allowing the Duchess to take the company fully independent.

Speaking of As Ever, Meghan has had some major wins of her own. The brand’s first collection sold out in under an hour, and together she and Harry have continued their philanthropy and global outreach through Archewell Philanthropies.

Another major reason for their original departure from the United Kingdom was their desire to escape the relentless British press and concerns about security, especially given the tragic legacy of Harry’s mother, Princess Diana. She died in a 1997 car crash in Paris while the vehicle she was riding in was being pursued by paparazzi, and Harry has been open about the moments when the chaos surrounding Meghan began to feel eerily familiar.

His concerns about bringing his family back to Britain only intensified after he lost his 2025 appeal over the level of police protection he receives in the U.K. At the time, Harry said he could not “see a world in which” he would bring Meghan and their children back under those circumstances. Which makes their return now all the more curious.

The America they escaped to is also very different from the America they’re leaving six years later. The political climate in the United States has drastically changed, along with its tolerance of immigrants under the Trump administration, and some supporters have naturally wondered whether the Trump administration has factored into the decision.

There’s been no indication from the Sussexes that politics prompted the move, and technically, they aren’t completely ditching America either. The family reportedly plans to maintain its Montecito home.

It’s also safe to assume Harry and Meghan aren’t exactly the same people who landed here six years ago. While Prince Harry released his memoir and shared his piece, Meghan has seemingly relaunched her public persona, stepped back into Hollywood, and even returned to Instagram, where she regularly posts glimpses of her life — with the comments turned off, of course.

The two have rebranded their foundation and gotten more comfortable sharing their relationship, too. Harry has popped up on “With Love, Meghan,” where the pair have been downright flirty for all to see. They’ve even given the public more glimpses of Archie and Lilibet — well, not their faces — both of whom appear to take after their father with that signature crimson hair.

Through As Ever and her series, Meghan has also made a major return to an area of her background that predates royal life entirely. Long before she was the Duchess of Sussex, she was a rising actress with a lifestyle blog, The Tig, focused on food, travel, fashion, wellness, and everything in between.

For some American fans, the shock, though, has come from the fact that it simply felt special to have royals living among us. Sure, they were way over in Montecito drinking green juice and hanging out with Oprah, but they were our royals for a minute.

They also aren’t the only ones from the Hollywood upper crust tempted to hop across the pond. Beyoncé and Jay-Z were reportedly eyeing property in the Cotswolds last year, although their reported plans to set up shop in Old Blighty ultimately appear to have fallen through.

Only time will tell what this next chapter brings for the Sussexes, but something tells us, however, that wherever Harry and Meghan plant their flag, they’re still going to live life on their own terms.