Prince Harry and Meghan arrive back in UK, 6 years after leaving royal life behind

LONDON — The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived back in the United Kingdom on Wednesday, multiple media outlets reported, six years after they left the country after stepping back from royal life.

The BBC, the country's public broadcaster, earlier reported that Prince Harry and Meghan – along with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet – were understood to have flown privately into Britain from California.

The Telegraph newspaper reported the family landed around lunchtime on Wednesday at Birmingham Airport. The family was reported to have made the journey on a Bombardier Global Express XRS luxury long-range business jet, according to Britain's PA Media news agency.

A spokesperson for the Sussexes would not confirm the family's movements when CNN reached out.

The Sussexes' return to the UK after living in the United States for the past six years was revealed last week. Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, are already enrolled in British schools for the coming term, which is due to start in September.

Harry and Meghan are returning to the UK as private citizens and will not be resuming any official duties on behalf of King Charles III.

The couple left the UK for North America in 2020 after stepping back from royal life, and the years since have seen a public falling out with the wider royal family. Harry and Meghan had cited tabloid intrusion, racism in British institutions, online abuse and complex family dynamics as among the reasons behind their departure.

Harry has made several trips back to the UK, including for the funeral of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 2022 and the coronation of his father, King Charles III, the following year.

Security sticking point

The family was most recently back in Britain over the summer when they visited King Charles and Queen Camilla at Highgrove, the monarch's private country residence in Gloucestershire, England. It was the first time the 77-year-old monarch had been reunited with his grandchildren in four years. The Sussexes also spent time with Harry's mother's side of the family at Althorp House, the Spencer estate in Northamptonshire.

King Charles was only informed of the family's move earlier this month. Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, were also told of the Sussexes' plans.

When asked by CNN last week why they were moving back, a source close to the couple would only remark on how much they enjoyed their visit as a family to the UK last month.

Whenever Prince Harry has returned to the UK, one sticking point has been his family's close police protection. He has fought a yearslong legal battle against the UK government after its Royal and VIP Executive Committee downgraded his taxpayer-funded security when he and Meghan ceased official work on behalf of the monarch. Since then, the decision has been made on a case-by-case basis.

Last year, he lost a challenge against the Home Office in the UK Court of Appeal on the decision. At the time, the duke said he couldn't "see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK at this point."

It's unclear if the security arrangements had changed in recent weeks or who would pay for any required security once back in Britain. At the end of June, he was still waiting on a review by the committee's Risk Management Board.

A UK government spokesperson has previously described its protective security system as "rigorous and proportionate."

Separately in July, Harry and six other high-profile figures lost their privacy case against a British tabloid publisher in the UK High Court. Last week, a judge ruled that the group – which also includes Elton John and his husband David Furnish – must make an initial payment of $13 million to Associated Newspapers Limited. However, the group faces paying up to a reported $46.9 million in total legal costs.

Harry and Meghan are settling back in the UK for an extended period, according to British media, and will live in a private property outside London. They are believed to set up their base in the Cotswolds, an affluent part of the central English countryside. The pair have not yet spoken publicly about their plans.

The duke will likely have charity engagements in the weeks ahead, such as the annual ceremony run by WellChild, a charity that cares for seriously ill children and young people in the UK. Preparations are also underway for his Invictus Games, which will be hosted in Birmingham next year.

Meanwhile, Meghan's latest Instagram posts suggest she will continue to grow her As Ever lifestyle business. In recent days, there have also been rumors that the Duchess could be eyeing a return to acting. She is in talks to possibly join the third season of Guy Ritchie's "The Gentlemen," which shoots in the UK, a person familiar with ongoing discussions previously told CNN.

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