Harry and Meghan's unpopularity in the UK isn't stopping their move back

In a shocking announcement that’s the kind to be expected from the ever-dramatic Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the couple revealed this week that they are returning to live full time in the United Kingdom in the next few weeks so that their children, Archie and Lilibet, can enroll in British schools.

Six years after they made the epic move to leave the U.K. on their self-described “freedom flight” — to escape what they described as the cruel confines of royal life and the relentless scrutiny of the British media — they now want back into British life and society, possibly because their “dream life” in Montecito, California has not worked out as they hoped, as the Daily Mail said.

It’s believed that King Charles III was only informed of their move back to the U.K. on Sunday, suggesting that he was “blindsided” by this major change in his second son’s living situation, the Daily Mail reported. And, while the king reportedly welcomes the chance to see more of his son and his grandchildren in a “private and personal capacity,” he has made it clear that the couple won’t be given a royal residence to live in and won’t be returning to royal duties; they will be living in the U.K. as “private individuals,” the Daily Mail reported.

What makes this announcement additionally surprising is that their return comes a few weeks after a major survey of British attitudes toward the royal family was published, and it showed that Harry and Meghan remain widely unpopular, six years after “Megxit.” According to the YouGov poll published in late July, the British public tend to view the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in a negative light.

A majority — or 58% — view Harry unfavorably, even though he was once one of Britain’s most popular royals, after the late Queen Elizabeth II. But this was before he married Meghan in 2018 and exiled himself to the United States, which U.K. critics saw as an act of betrayal to his family and home country.

His current favorability rating is 33% — which is up a slight six points from the year before, the YouGov survey showed. Harry’s American wife, though, continues to be unpopular in the U.K. Indeed, the former TV actor-turned lifestyle influencer is the least popular member of the royal family — save for Harry’s disgraced, scandal-plagued uncle, the former Prince Andrew. Some 65% of Britons view Meghan in a negative light, while just 22% think well of her, the YouGov poll said.

In the years following Harry and Meghan’s “freedom flight” to the United States, they vowed to achieve financial independence and to take the world by storm by establishing themselves as media moguls and global philanthropists. But their post-royal life “was marked by a series of explosive claims that shook the monarchy,” as royal journalist Tom Sykes wrote on his The Royalist Substack. In their 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview, Meghan suggested that senior royals had made racist remarks about the color of Archie’s skin before he was born, and she claimed that the royal family was unsympathetic to her mental health struggles after she married Harry and struggled with royal life. Both she and Harry also accused the British media of being unfairly relentless in their criticism of her.

Harry moreover made a number of controversial disclosures in interviews and in his best-selling 2023 memoir “Spare,” revealing royal secrets and writing critically about his father, older brother, Prince William, sister-in-law, Princess Catherine, and stepmother, Queen Camilla.

Since then, Harry has been on a campaign to repair his relationship with his father — especially after the king revealed that he had been diagnosed with cancer in early 2024. It’s also been widely speculated among royal observers that Harry and Meghan have been wanting to get back into the king’s good graces and rekindle their royal connections because their plans to become fabulously wealthy, U.S.-based global thought leaders have not worked out. Their multimillion deals with Netflix and Spotify dried up, Hollywood A-listers reportedly grew weary of them, they restructured their Archewell nonprofit foundation and laid off staff and Harry’s longterm relationships with two African-focused charities became mired in controversy.

On his The Royalist Substack, Sykes reported that Harry and his father speak regularly by telephone, and the king and queen granted a private audience to Harry, Meghan, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, when they were in the U.K. in July.

But Harry and Meghan’s July visit to the U.K. also was beset by drama, as Harry feuded with Buckingham Palace over accommodations and reportedly feuded with his father and the U.K. government over his unsuccessful effort to be granted automatic, taxpayer-funded police security. Meghan also wouldn’t be seen in public, including at Harry’s Invictus Games events, after her husband suffered a stunning and potentially costly court defeat in his invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against the Daily Mail.

Sources close to the Sussexes insisted to the Telegraph that they are not moving back to the U.K. because their ventures in America haven’t worked out, Sykes reported. They will keep their homes in Montecito and in Portugal, and it hasn’t been decided if the move will be permanent. Meanwhile, Meghan will continue to run her lifestyle brand, As Ever, from their new British home base, with these sources insisted that Meghan’s jam products business is thriving, Sykes also reported.

But even if Harry is starting to patch things up with his father, he is not at all on good terms with William, the Prince of Wales and the heir to the throne, according to Sykes and other royal journalists. It’s believed that Harry and his brother have not spoken for years, and William and Kate reportedly feel profoundly betrayed by Harry’s revelations in “Spare” and in TV interviews. It’s also been reported by Sykes and other reporters that William, once he becomes King William V, would like to strip Harry and Meghan of their royal titles.

For Harry and Meghan to enjoy a smooth return to the U.K. and to win back the favor of the British public, it might help if William and Kate weren’t so popular, or that the British public didn’t look so favorably upon some of Harry’s other royal relatives.

According to the YouGov poll, William and Kate are the two most popular members of the royal family, and are viewed positively by around three-quarters of Britons. Charles is positively viewed by around 62%, and around six in 10 Britons — or 57-60% — see the royal family and the institution of the monarchy in a favorable light. A majority of Britons — or 54% — also feel that the monarchy is good value for the money, and 64% believe that the U.K. should continue to be a kingdom.