Image source, Getty ImagesHarry and Meghan’s arrival back in Britain is imminent (the couple are seen here on their recent Australia tour)
ByDaniela Relph, Senior royal correspondent and Daniel Wittenberg
Within the next few days, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their two children will have departed California and become residents of the UK.
Since news broke of the move, there has been some confusion as to what British life for Harry and Meghan will look like – but a picture is emerging of the family’s priorities.
Over the weekend, there was a deluge of stories about Meghan’s return to acting with speculation she would have a role in the next series of The Gentlemen on Netflix, created by British director Guy Ritchie.
Talks are still said to be in the early stages and we understand filming for the third series of the show is imminent – but Netflix has made no comment on who will star, leaving the way open for a former working member of the royal family with an acting background to be cast.
The comedy is about a duke turned drug baron and is mostly filmed in the Cotswolds.
What is clear is that a return to acting more broadly is very much on the agenda for Meghan. It would be financially lucrative for the family in a world of expensive homes, school fees and international travel.
Speaking in June last year to British businesswoman and podcaster Emma Grede, Meghan talked about her Netflix lifestyle series With Love, Meghan, and hinted at a return to acting when asked if she missed that side to her life.
“Sometimes,” Meghan replied. “Being back on set with With Love, Meghan was great because I realised how much I miss my crew. I love being around a crew.”
But Variety’s chief correspondent Marlow Stern says when it comes to deliberations over a potential acting role for Meghan, “a lot of it has to do with scheduling, to be honest”.
“They’re maybe also negotiating the size of the role and how many days she’ll shoot, and also compensation for it. Both sides often play the media to try and push things along, and we could be seeing that.”
For Harry, the focus once back in the UK will be on the charity work and patronages he has kept hold of while living thousands of miles away.
He has now completed his final charity engagements in the US before flying back to the UK in the coming days.
In Washington DC, he met military veterans and their families and visited America’s main hospital for injured servicemen and women, Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre.
At Arlington National Cemetery, he visited the final resting place of many service personal killed in Iraq and Afghanistan wars where he himself served on two operational tours.
At the grave of Sergeant Michael Verardo, who died last year from complications related to injuries sustained in Afghanistan in 2010, he met Verardo’s widow Sarah – who now supports other military families – and their nine-year-old daughter, Elizabeth.
Image source, Lindsay Hart for The Office of The Duke of SussexPrince Harry met widow Sarah and her daughter Elizabeth, 9, at Arlington National Cemetery
“All my daughter knows about princes or princesses is probably contained to a movie… she whispered to me and said, ‘Where is his crown? Did he leave it in the car?'” Sarah said.
“She was very dazzled by the ability to meet him and it made it made us find bits of sparkle for her at a young age in a very hard experience – and that means a lot to me personally.”
It is a reminder of the impact Prince Harry is able to make and what he will hope to bring to an increased amount of public work in the UK.
Plans for a number of charity engagements in September in Britain were already in place.
He will be at the WellChild Awards in London towards the end of the month, continuing his support for the event which honours the bravery of seriously ill children.
There will inevitably be an emphasis on the Invictus Games for wounded service personnel which will be held in Birmingham next July.
In an ideal world, the King, as head of the Armed Forces, would officially open the Games – putting father and son together in public for the first time in several years.
That remains an aspiration from Invictus organisers rather than any definitive plan.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe couple are thought to have chosen the Cotswolds as their home (file image)
It’s thought the family will base themselves in the Cotswolds. Harry and Meghan previously rented a property there in 2018 and are known to have friends in the area.
Reports that the couple have turned to former Spice Girl Geri Horner and her husband Christian Horner for advice on life in the area have been rejected by Harry and Meghan’s official spokesperson.
“Harry and Meghan are great fans of Geri and Christian… the Horners are not advising them on their return, nor have they been asked to do so.”
The couple will be back in the UK about a week before the autumn school term begins for their two children, seven-year-old Archie and five-year-old Lilibet. Most terms begin at the end of next week.
It’s understood Meghan will concentrate on settling her children into the routine of life in a British school. She is not expected to embark on any kind of full programme of public engagements.
Exploring acting opportunities and running her business, As Ever, will fill her time once her family is settled. She may also appear alongside her husband at some of his charity events.
Image source, Getty ImagesMeghan previously starred in Suits. She is seen here at the season five premiere in 2016
The couple will keep their multi-million dollar home in Montecito, about a two-hour drive north of Los Angeles. Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, who has been heavily involved in helping to care for her grandchildren, will remain living in California.
The family is expected to return to the US regularly as well as use the holiday home they have bought near Melides in Portugal.
It is close to a property bought by Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank who have remained close to the Sussexes during the royal fallout.
How involved Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet will be with the wider royal family has not yet been decided.
Over the next few months, several significant royal engagements are in the diary that would involve most senior royals – Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph, the Princess of Wales’ Carol Service at Westminster Abbey and then Christmas at Sandringham.
Will there be invitations extended to the Sussex family?
Trust remains an issue. There is caution, a degree of wariness and even hostility in some quarters of the Royal Household. These decisions are very much a work in progress.
Harry and Meghan’s team has described the move to the UK as being for “an extended period of time”.
It is not necessarily a long-term move but may be a chance for the family to experience life in the UK, allowing the children to get to know their grandfather, the King, while they are young enough to not have their education disrupted.
Much of what happens in the months ahead will be a test – of Harry and Meghan’s liking for life in the UK, of public reaction to them and of the royal family’s ability to continue with their duties alongside the distractions the Sussex family may bring.
Additional reporting by James Govan.
