Prince George’s first day of Eton was on Tuesday, September 8th. Reportedly, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis started back at Lambrook the next day, and that’s why the Princess of Wales didn’t join her husband in Norway for King Harald’s funeral – she was dropping her two youngest off for their first day of school in the new term. Well, it’s more than likely that Tuesday or Wednesday was the first day of British school for Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet as well. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex apparently applied to private schools months ago, and the British papers continue to smugly promote “British education” as far superior to anything offered in America. So it is what it is. Team Sussex handed another exclusive to People Magazine, and this is a confirmation that the kids are now in school in Britain.
Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet have started a new chapter in Britain — in the classroom. The children of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle — 7-year-old Archie and 5-year-old Lilibet — are beginning the new school year in the U.K. after their family’s move back to Harry’s home country. The children were due to begin school in Britain in September, though details surrounding the family’s new home and their school are being kept private.
For the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the early days of their return have centered firmly on family. Settling the children “has been, and remains, their focus. Everything else will fall into place when the time is right,” a source close to Harry and Meghan tells PEOPLE.
“There is a lot to do. They have just moved halfway across the world, and it’s been really busy getting the kids settled,” the source adds. “Their focus has been on that, and will remain on that, for the time being. They are happy to be back.”
Like millions of children across Britain, Archie and Lilibet are beginning a new school year this month — and they aren’t the only royal family members marking a major educational milestone. Their cousin Prince George, 13, arrived at Eton College with Prince William and Kate Middleton on Tuesday, Sept. 8. The move to the prestigious boarding school marks the first time George has left home for school, while Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, 8, remain at Lambrook School.
The children’s schooling also played a role in the decision to relocate. A source close to Harry previously told PEOPLE that returning to Britain was something he had been “thinking about for a while,” while another source says the Duke wants his children “to understand the world he grew up in and where their family comes from.”
It’s been about 16 days since they returned and I’m already praying that Meghan and the kids are back in Montecito by the close of business this month. But sure, the kids are enrolled in school and none of the papers have announced which school and that’s good. Will that silence hold? I don’t think the Sussexes’ new “I dare you to reveal anything” tactic will work long-term, but we’ll certainly see. “They are happy to be back.” I feel like I’ve aged ten years from the stress of merely watching this reverse Sussexit, but sure! Happy to be back!
Photos courtesy of Meghan’s Instagram.
I don’t think Scooter wanted Kate with him at that funeral.
@Tessa I agree. But do you think either of them realize how bad that looks on the European stage? I mean even Charlene showed up with Albert.
Perhaps they don’t care. They only have to impress the Fail.
Yes, if she had gone with William, the entire thing would have been about her hair, her clothes, whether or not he looked daggers at her, etc. The actual funeral would have been lost on people.
I also think she doesn’t want the comparisons to other royal women. She doesn’t have the best conduct at funerals or in churches either.
I think not traveling together is something that was agreed on their separation.
When Harry met Meghan, he said there was a drumbeat in his head saying, “She is perfect.” However, Meghan’s friends were saying in the midst of “Straight Outta Compton” BS, “Is he worth it?” All I can imagine, as this horrid family and evil institution ramp up the lies and projection, is that Meghan is still falling on the side that Harry is worth it. Perhaps her calculations include two beautiful and well-loved children and the the knowledge that the British media will hound her for the rest of her life even if she left him.
At this stage he has to be worth it and she has decided he is. Whether or not she’s with him, they’ll always be linked and there is no going back to the before Harry time. You think these people will ever leave her alone, even if she and Harry part ways tomorrow? I actually find it very disrespectful to them as family to constantly disparage their choices and them being together in the UK. It’s them taking the risk, not us. Meghan is quiet and low key, but she is a very determined person. I genuinely hope this works out well for them and that it normalizes them being in the UK, whether they split their time between the US, or stay there for longer stretches. They’ll work out the logistics and strategy so this constant quarterbacking is not doing anything but stressing us out. I just want an Instagram post or two, ngl.
All the best to them. I hope Archie and Lili had a nice first day at school. I still think that they will return to the US after a year.
@Amybee I agree 100%.
Much as I like having Harry at home, I too think he will be better off in California. The British press are not going to get bored.
I sure hope you’re right Amy Bee on them only committing one year living on Salty Island. I just hope Meghan doesn’t suffer too much for this. Good luck to the children at school. I hope they enjoy it.
I don’t even think that it will be a year. The Sussexes made it clear that this was temporary and not long term, which is why they still have their home in Montecito. I think that they needed to be in the UK for an extended period of time and as parents to young children, they wanted to make sure that their children continued to receive an education during that time period. Harry wanting to make sure that his children know about where he comes from doesn’t imply needing them to continue school year round in the UK. Harry himself has spoken about how of the two, Meghan is more the one who valued her education than he did. So I can’t imagine that either of them who only experienced schooling in their respective countries would have an opinion about schooling in a country they never went to. Also of the two, we and the media acknowledge that Meghan is the most intelligent of the royals, especially of those who have a higher education, so why would the one country that has Dumb and Dumber: Royal Edition starring Will and Kate be the more superior education? I’m not saying that one country is better than the other because I think that there are too many factors that should always be considered and I don’t think that something like that can be generalized for entire countries. I also don’t think that Harry and Meghan look at this trip in that way either.
Unfortunately, none of this will end well on that salty island. To be subject to daily tabloid , palace and family torture is too much to withstand. We know how this self inflicted horror story ends, which is a return to Montecito but in the meantime it is like watching a horror film. I’ll close my eyes and wait it out. But my interest is quickly waning and I wonder how many of their fans feel the same way.
Sustaining a positive attitude is difficult when this storyline is playing out almost entirely in the gossip side of media. Losing interest is normal when all the updates are nothing more than poor communication and disinformation. I don’t think it’s a betrayal to question the motives of Harry & Meghan. And I also don’t think being exhausted by all the royal shenanigans is inherently wrong.
About the only hope.
Folks who believe that the lives of famous people who they only know thru the filter of electronic comms devices and the shitmedia, are there for entertainment; with an inability to see said famous people as human beings, will of course see their “interest…..quickly waning” when the storyline doesnt go as one had scripted it in one’s head.
I mean…………if one finds one’s self so invested that they feel “subject to daily tabloid, palace and family torture,” why…..of course it would be “too much to withstand.” I saw nowhere where H&M told anyone that they are “subject to tabloid, palace and family TORTURE.” Yee gads! Thats some serious projection going on there. A mental health break is highly recommended.
We know it’s going to end with a return to Montecito because the Sussexes told us as much in their statement. We know that they are only there temporarily and that they still have their home in Montecito. So it’s going to end well because regardless of the harassment that they get daily regardless of where they live, they plan to return to their home in Montecito.
And as we have witnessed the last 6 years, the harassment will continue when they are back in California. Every time they step outside, every Instagram post. Such is their star power.
All the catastrophizing is a bit much. These are very rich people with private, secure homes, armored cars and private security. They are insulated from life’s travails in ways average people have a hard time imagining. They are private citizens, his family has no ability to tell them what to do, and they do have some protections from the press. They’re having a «British Experience » and then they’ll go on to the next thing that strikes their fancy.
I agree, it is a bit much. Too many people getting upset at the life choices of two grown adults. If they are unhappy they can move back to California but I understand why Harry wants his kids to have the experience of living in Britain. It doesn’t really matter how we personally feel about it because we don’t know these people and should avoid getting in a parasocial relationship with them. I support them but don’t feel the need to lecture them or project my own feelings onto them. They are two very rich people with choices. They are not working royals so are free to leave the UK whenever they please. If they say they are happy then we need to trust that they are! Some people get so caught up in the news cycle that they forget we know nothing about what is actually going on behind the scenes!
1000% THIS.
👏🏾 👏🏾 👏🏾
@Julia Thank you! The voice of reason is sorely needed on every H&M thread.
LMFAO
💯💯💯
Do you know how we’ll know if they’re happy there? if they stay long term. If they’re not happy, they’ll move back to California or Portugal or wherever they decide to live.
I dont want to be in their shoes with the press scrutiny and the family drama and all of that. Being rich doesnt mean you dont have problems. I think we all know that.
But, being rich does insulate you from some more of the basic problems that we normal folks have. for example, an international move doesn’t really faze you because other people are doing the heavy lifting while you fly private.
Becks1 I agree in part but Infont think that a barometer to their happiness in BritiN can be measured based on whether they remain there or not because one’s happiness can happen in multiple places and their decision to live at one place over another can be based on more than just their happiness. Besides they already said that their stay in Britain is temporary. Temporary is very vague and can be anywhere from a month to six or 12 months. We don’t know, but we do know that they have plans of returning to their Montecito home at some point.
Yes, agree
Those hurtful comments are following the instructions of the Daily Fail. Successfully training people into not being nice.
Thank you! Also, it’s not a reverse Sussexit. They exited as ‘working’ members of the royal family. They are still not ‘working’ members of the royal family. The term drives me nuts. Beyond that, I hope they are settling in well and are able to ignore the dramatic catastrophizing (which is exhausting).
Thank you for pointing out how this isn’t a reverse SussexIt because they aren’t returning to be working royals. That term irritates me as does the use of the term half in half out because their return to the UK isn’t half in half out or anything close to what they wanted from the Summit. You can’t have half in half out if there is no half in because they aren’t working royals or representatives of the royal family. Them living in the UK, regardless of how long that might be, doesn’t make them half in. It just means that they are doing what they have been doing for the past six years while also living in the UK. That term is inaccurate and misleading.
And I’m pretty sure there are many Brits who don’t get sucked in the hate train. Plus some friends they may have, as well as Harry’s maternal family. I’m sure they have support from many people.
Absolutely. I am sorry for their troubles. But these are 1 percent problems.
I hope the kids have a lovely school year and agree with some that I think that after this year they are going to be back in CA if RAVEC doesn’t change their security assessment.
And if Billy and Kathy are so worried about bringing upstaged in the UK, let me remind them they have been upstaged for the last 6 years too, from California.
The biggest snub Harry and Meg could deal Will and Kate was returning to London—and return they did. Their comeback is a bit like Diana’s “revenge dress.”
They are no longer the couple forced to leave for the sake of survival, driven out by the envy, hatred, and anger of shortsighted, childish people; now, they are a strong, solid couple with a full life they built themselves. Since returning, they have barely been seen, yet everyone is talking about them.
Why did they come back?
To salvage what could be saved regarding a sick father?
To ensure the success of the Birmingham Invictus Games?
Something else?
I don’t know, but while the hostile press tries every trick to frame their return as a defeat, I believe their return is a way of saying, “We won.”
Tell me what you think.
Their return might signal “We won,” but I don’t think that’s why they made the move. I think it’s much more boring than that. Introducing the children to the UK is much less disruptive for them at this age than when they’re older and have a friend cohort. IG makes this a convenient time, too. And, possibly, there’s the idea of expanding As Ever internationally, which is something Meghan has said she wants to do. These are all perfectly normal things a normal family might decide on.
Salvaging a relationship with the RF and Charles is not in their hands and I don’t think they expected it to be. But, they seem to have had a good time at Althorp and with other friends in the UK, so there’s that.
Yes, perhaps there is no deliberate intention to say “we made it” in their return, and the reasons you cite are valid. Nevertheless, this return does have the flavor of a “triumph.”😉😊
Characterizing their return as “we won” implies that they did so with Will and Kate in mind. I hope that they’re better than that. The amount of skepticism that greeted the news of their relocation also exposed a splintered endorsement of the couple’s decision. There are too many unknowns to call this transition a victory and only time will reveal if it was successful.
What sadly gets lost in the feeding frenzy of hysterical royalists trying to peck H & M out of the barnyard while capitalizing on any gossip they can dredge up about them, are the positive aspects of what the UK offers. It offers such a rich culture of knowledge, traditions and attention to details in so many fields that we know Meghan adores – art, textiles, gardening, literature, history, education and so much more. That culture is the birth heritage of those kids. Does William have any actual right to banish them? So yeah, it seems like an “f u” but it’s also important to honor what’s rightfully yours and not let some jealous infantile sibling bully you and your kids out of their own heritage. Living in England and being a working royal (or even just a royal) – two different things. The Sussexes are insisting on their rights and while it’s been made very ugly by the hysterical-chicken royalist press squawking their heads off, it’s just noise (and profitable clickbait). I hope they get what they want out of the experience and are able to leave peacefully when the time is right.
I agree. Coming to England despite William’s fit pitching and Charles indifference shows they can handle it on their terms. Even not going out and about, Harry & Meghan are infinitely more interesting that William and Kate which is the problem for the royal family.
Christmas is coming, and King Charles’s grandchildren won’t be across the ocean—so what will the loving grandfather do? And the loving aunt and uncle, Will and Kate? And cousins Zara and Mike Tindall? And Uncle Edward?
You see, it is the loving Royal Family that finds itself in a bind.
Jan Moir in today’s Daily Outrage mocks their presumption in coming back and revels in father Charles ringing the leper bell on Harry and Meghan!! At least Jan Moir admits that King’s letter is dripping with TACIT menace. What does she think King is capable of doing or ordering in the way of retribution?
Times, Outrage and Guardian have all gloated over the King,s letter but it is deeply concerning and I have complained to the Guardian about their celebration of it. I reminded them about their coverage of Jason Arday who died last month.
Harry and Meghan and their children are welcome back in the UK by myself but the implacable mutual bond of hostility and ostracism between RF and BM is concerning to see operate, unchecked. I do wish them well and happy but I am concerned about their safety here given the deranged non stop coverage fuelled by King ‘s open declaration that they are nothing to do with him. He has told the world that they are on their own and enjoy no favour in his eyes. They have been officially cast off and must look to their resources for everything. They did successfully rebuild their lives in the US so maybe they can duplicate that again here but it has to be acknowledged that the king is not going to lift a finger to help them. Quite the reverse because he wants them banished and silent and gone away from his kingdom.
However, Carlo’s letter is also a symbol of defeat; they are afraid of H and M—afraid of their ability to attract attention and their work ethic. The Waleses might have a hand in this too—or rather William; I don’t think the Royal Family is concerned with what Kate wants.
In any case, your fears are unfortunately not unfounded.
The media and some people here seem to be reading things into this letter that aren’t there. I believe the letter was pointless and stating the obvious and was the reason for Uganda withdrawing. However, the letter was not dripping with menace nor has it changed the status quo. Charles can’t stop Harry going out and about and doing charity work in the UK, which is all Harry wants to do. The king did not ‘make an open declaration’ against Harry and Meghan. That is so over the top and screams daily Mail talking point.
Lovely comment. I appreciate what you’re saying and the way in which you’re using appropriate situational levity. I enjoy the gossip and the American perspectives are always informative. This is really not as heavy and urgent of an issue for the UK as it may seem. Most feel that if the circumstances warrant, needs must and should be provided. We shall see!
In their documentary, Harry shared his philosophy on living with experimentation: “But if you’re choice-less, then you’re never going to know. And for us, if we try something and it turns out to be a mistake, we’ll admit it, we’ll correct it, and we’ll move on.” That stood out to me at the time because sometimes I felt that they are too impulsive and reactive, and I don’t think they are playing 3D chess. It’s good because they pivot but it is also risky. That seems to me what’s going on here— Harry has told Meghan maybe they can live the dream life they originally planned while they fell in love somewhere in the Cotswolds, with children who learn their place and belonging to the country where they are aristocrats, carrying out philanthropy and charitable work, and now business ventures to boot. So they said “why not?” Instead of “why?”
They remind me of improv actors who always say “Yes,” to see what will happen next. Well, they are certainly living a more layered, adventurous life than if they’d just moved to a suburb of Cleveland, say, and shut the door on the half traumatic/half fabulous world they know with a big NO MAS. It is stressful for those of us who watch from the sofa though, lol.
What evidence do you or any of us have that they always say yes? You’re making an assumption because the decision they made to return doesn’t match with what you would do. But you don’t know why they are there, what factors they are considering or if there are decisions they have made where they said no to something. You’re making blind assumptions about every decision they’ve made based on the limited information you having about them and their lives. I keep thinking about how everyone lost their ever loving minds when they first stepped down and returned to Canada and then the U.S.. Everyone was overreacting as if they didn’t know what decisions they were making by not staying within the royal family. Yet not a single one of us knew all of the hell they were enduring behind closed doors. So here we are now panicking about them temporarily returning with the knowledge of the people they were unaware of back in 2016-2019. They know more than we will ever know and the decisions they make are based off of that knowledge and personal experience in that particular situation.
Those lovely photos of Montecito are like salt in the wound lol … as I’ve written before, I lived in England for six years and cannot imagine returning there, even though the US is currently a hellscape.
England is so … puny and claustrophic and class-bound (my apologies to the English celebitches … there were parts of your country I loved — like its proximity to Paris and Dublin).
But then I’m not an English prince on the top of that country’s class hierarchy.
I don’t think it’s parasocial to worry about Meghan’s safety in England — the hatred whipped up about her by the rota is genuinely terrible.
I only spent a summer there in college and that was a long time ago. I didn’t love it either, but I think that was partly because I was broke and working a shitty temp job. I do remember being invited to a party by a friend of my sister’s, and showing up and feeling ridiculously underdressed. It was an outdoor party and the women were in ball gowns. I could not have afforded a ball gown anyway, but a little warning would have been nice.
I had fun but had no particular desire to go back, at least not as anything more than a tourist. I didn’t like the food and it was expensive to boot. I felt out of place even as an east coast bred American with no real language barrier. It’s just not for me.
You know the Wales have the Sussexes in their sights when the Wales, gulp, actually go outside and do stuff. W and K must be furious about that! “We have to WORK because of them??!!”
I hear you, @QuiteContrary, I often feel the same way myself — like, this country is one highly pressurised bubble. I mean, occasionally you glimpse English people experiencing the revelation that life on the Continent can actually be amazing, and there is a huge amount of cognitive dissonance at having left the EU only to confront this fact. Same with the US. No matter how much Trump and the GOP suck, you’re still confronted with the implacable fact that labour productivity is much higher, wages are higher, cost of living is lower, etc…. All the makings of a good life are missing here in various ways that are now impossible to ignore. I think a lot of what is driving British meltdowns now is the realisation that they’re no longer in a phase of managed or relative decline, genteel diminishment, but in dire straits, and then you look at countries like Poland and Romania and realise, their living standards are looking to surpass anything you could aspire to in the UK in the next ten years. If they were not addled by what Marx termed false consciousness, they would trim the fat on all fronts and start with the royals. Egads.
I hope they stay safe but also think it is a big mistake. Harry could have traveled for his Invictus preparations without this unless the part about a film of Diana is really the main factor. It just seems like such a bad idea. Why not move to Portugal…
Harry wants the kids to understand “the world he grew up in and where their family comes from”. As long as this is not an attempt to erase the fact that half their family (Meghan’s family) comes from California in the USA it will be fine. But sometimes I do fear that there’s another agenda at play. I hope I’m wrong.
What particularly bothers me is this sentence: “the Duke wants his children to understand the world he grew up in and know the origins of their family.”
Understanding your roots, of course. But Harry has demonstrated that he doesn’t necessarily understand the environment he grew up in. His children also have Black heritage through their maternal grandmother. So I hope they won’t be given an idealized and revisionist version of the monarchy as he experienced it.
If they are supposed to understand “the world he grew up in,” then I hope they will also learn about its historical reality: imperialism, colonialism, racism, and classism.
I’m not claiming that the American establishment is any better, far from it, but this culture of birthright and class-based privilege is far more deeply rooted in British culture and society than it is in American culture and society.
@Line tbh, his children are white passing, and with my experience of white passing, three quarters white children, the history won’t hit them/ make them pause like you’d probably hope or think.
They present as white, as far as we can tell from snippets of photos. The world knows they are one quarter Black. There is another risk to presenting as white. There will be racists as they grow up who try to persuade them that they are not Black.
In a way, Britain resembles India, their former colony, in terms of classism. And it’s awful. Yes, the U.S. is in a very bad place right now, and hopefully it’s temporary and we get systems in place to change that, but at least we don’t have a group of oriole who is “better” than others.
This is precisely a concern I expressed in an another post. We keep hearing that Harry wants his children to know and understand their heritage. But what heritage is that? Because the royal heritage is really nothing to be proud of. The entire British aristocracy which includes the Spencers (their paternal grandmother’s family) is nothing to be proud of, even though there may be some individuals within each group who tried to be good and decent people. But I am very curious 🤨 about what Harry plans for his kids to learn about this heritage he is adamant they need to learn.
@brassyrebel. As you’ve said many times, Harry is a royalist. He grew up a beloved prince and enjoyed many benefits of the pomp and circumstance of the monarchy, not least of which was a fairytale wedding. Despite the experience of not being direct heir, Harry only knew living in castles, exclusive garden parties and rubbing shoulders with celebrities and world leaders. Archie and Lillibet will never know that life for themselves and anything they see and experience, they’ll do so as tourists. Or private citizens if you will.
They are too young for such conversations, but I’m sure Meghan will explain to them the dark side of royalty, such as undeserved privilege, classism, colonialism, profiting from slavery.
@Brassy Rebel and @line, you make very good points (#17 and #16). Thought-provoking.
Hopefully the children have good experiences there and their parents can protect them from the toxic media there… can’t imagine what it does for a young child to see headlines about how her name made her great grandmother furious enough to throw new papers.
And I hope their new school has protections against bullying. Because children have no filters and can be terrible.
You can have consequences for bullying when perpetrators are caught and exposed, but it’s virtually impossible to have protections against it.