Harry and Meghan return to Britain
Harry and Meghan begin ‘extended’ stay in UK with their children supported by personal security team.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have returned to Britain without close police protection in place as they begin an “extended” stay with their children.
The Sussexes, who arrived at Birmingham airport at lunchtime on Wednesday, were not granted a publicly funded police convoy for the journey to their new home.
The family will now spend time settling in privately, before Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, join a British school for the start of the September term.
They are being supported by their own protection team, and were met by a van and two blacked-out cars after their overnight flight from California.
It is only the third time Princess Lilibet is known to have been in Britain. Prince Archie was born in his father’s homeland, but moved to Canada and then the US with his parents before his first birthday.
The family made a short visit to Britain in July for a summer holiday, with the Duchess sharing photographs of their time at Althorp on her Instagram page.
The Duke and Duchess are moving to Britain six years after they left the working Royal family. Their UK home is thought to be in the Cotswolds, where they previously rented a property.
They plan to live as an “international” family, keeping their homes in California and Portugal.
A source told The Telegraph: “How long will they stay? I don’t know, but it will be for an extended period. Whether that’s six months, a year, two years… who knows.”
The couple are bringing their dogs Mia and Pula with them, but are keeping their chickens in Montecito rather than rehoming them, suggesting they plan to return.
The Duke and Duchess will not resume their pre-2020 roles as working members of the Royal family in Britain.
While their allies signal that the Sussexes hope to be “half-in, half-out”, in the model of their tour of Australia earlier this year, the King and Prince of Wales are said to be united in upholding the terms of the Sandringham summit.
Then, Elizabeth II ruled that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex could not adopt a part-time working role in the Royal family while also making money in the way they had proposed.
The King and Queen hosted the Duke and Duchess, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, for tea at Highgrove in July.
The meeting was said to have gone well, but details of what was said between father and son have not yet been revealed.
The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex are no longer in personal contact.
The Sussexes lost their right to full-time taxpayer-funded police protection when they ceased to be working members of the Royal family.
Under current arrangements, they must give notice of their intention to be in Britain and their security is decided on a case-by-case basis.
Prince Harry has appealed extensively to raves, the Home Office committee responsible for the decision, and in the High Court.
The Duke previously insisted it was too dangerous to bring his wife and children back to the UK without this protection.
A risk assessment for the Sussexes was carried out last month, but the outcome has not yet been shared with them.
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Prince Harry is expected to embark on charity engagements including the WellChild awards in early September, while the Duchess is planning to continue her As Ever business.
The Duke and Duchess married at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in May 2018.
In March 2019, Buckingham Palace announced they would set up their own household, breaking from the joint operation they had with the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
In January 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they intended to step back as “senior” members of the Royal family, become financially independent, and still support Elizabeth II while splitting their time between the UK and North America.
The late Queen ruled at the Sandringham summit, which was convened to resolve the crisis, that the couple could not be “half-in, half-out”.
By March 2020, they had set up a permanent home in California, officially stepped down as senior royals and stopped using their HRH styles.
Since their “farewell tour”, the Duchess has only returned to Britain with her husband for the late Queen’s funeral and a family holiday in July, when she did not join him in public.
Credit: The Telegraph
