Prince Harry and Meghan Markle assured their closest friends that their move to Britain was not a permanent goodbye, according to a source.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived in the UK on Wednesday with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. The family is expected to remain in the country for an extended period, with the children reportedly enrolled at a preparatory school in England.
Harry and Meghan are also believed to be looking for a home in the Cotswolds, close to Archie and Lilibet’s new school. Reports suggest they are considering properties valued at around £8 million.
The couple, however, is not expected to cut ties with its life outside Britain. Harry and Meghan reportedly plan to keep their £11 million Montecito mansion and their £6.3 million home in Portugal.
Before flying out of California on Tuesday evening, the family invited a small group of close friends over so the children could spend some “special time” with them, an insider told People magazine.
“It wasn’t a goodbye forever,” the source explained. “It was much more, ‘We’ll be back, but this is what we’re doing right now.’”
The insider said Harry and Meghan had been planning the move for some time and felt it was the right choice for their family. Even so, leaving their California home and friends behind was said to have been difficult.
Meghan is expected to divide her time between Britain and California. Her lifestyle brand, As Ever, is based in the state, while she and Harry also maintain the offices of their production company, Archewell Productions, there.
