Ever since Prince Harry and Meghan announced their UK return, the British press has been desperate to paint their “California years” negatively. There’s a convenient refusal to remember the glimpses of Harry and Meghan’s actual life in California – the elite dinner parties, socializing with A-listers, the well-attended polo games, the charity concerts at Kevin Costner’s estate, the genuine curiosity and protectiveness within that elite Montecito/Santa Barbara enclave. Well, the Daily Mail’s Caroline Graham published an extremely bitchy piece about how the Sussexes’ neighbors are happy to see them go. My guess is that the people willing to speak to the Daily Fail are telling on themselves.

The As Ever display at Godmothers bookstore is gone: Today, it looks rather different. The grand display has gone. The signage has disappeared. And the once-celebrated As Ever collection has vanished from the shelves, save for those three lonely tins. There is no sign of Harry’s excoriating memoir, Spare, either. I asked a shop assistant if there were any As Ever products available. Her response was revealing. ‘I don’t think I know that company?’ she said. When I explained that it was Meghan Markle’s brand, she replied: ‘Oh, we don’t stock it any more.’

The paparazzi are no longer stalking around Montecito: The paparazzi, which once gathered on the road outside their Chateau of Riven Rock mansion, have disappeared – much to the delight of one neighbour who gave her name only as ‘Susan’. She told me: ‘Meghan and Harry never became part of the community. You’d see him out on his electric bike and she’d drive past in a Range Rover but it was always “swish” and you’d miss them. I left a bottle of wine at their gate to welcome them and it was returned to me, unopened, the following day. I’m not sure they ever wanted to hang out with anyone who wasn’t a billionaire or famous or both.’

Graham quotes a “friend”: The mood in Montecito last week was one of relief. It is a feeling that I, as a journalist in LA, share knowing that, for the first time since they arrived in 2020, the constant drama of the Sussex circus is now 5,000 miles away. As one friend who lives in Santa Barbara, the coastal city next door to Montecito, told me: ‘The buzz surrounding them when they arrived has long since disappeared. Americans love success and there has been precious little of that. Their victim narrative became tiresome. America, and particularly this little slice of California, fell out of love with them.’

Good riddance: For a couple who built so much of their lives around attention, perhaps the most wounding thing last week was how little anyone cared about their departure. Author and long-time Montecito resident Robert Eringer was sipping a cocktail outside The Honor Bar, Montecito’s favourite watering hole. He said: ‘Personally it matters not one iota to me whether they’re in Montecito or in Britain. I’m out and about in Montecito a lot and never saw them. I doubt anyone would have noticed they’d left if it hadn’t been reported in the news but, since it was, the general impression is, good riddance.’

A whimper: Another neighbour, who declined to give his name, said the Sussexes left ‘with a whimper, not a bang’. ‘There were no moving trucks, no parties, nothing at all. One day they were here and the next they were back in England.’

No one ever said that Harry owns polo ponies in California: What will happen to Harry’s polo ponies, Meghan’s famous rescue chickens and their 16-bathroom house, which, local estate agents say, could now be worth upwards of $40 million? David Sigman, the British general manager of the Santa Barbara Polo Club where Harry was often photographed, said that, contrary to speculation, the prince never owned his own ponies. ‘He played here up until about two or three years ago and then he left to play on the private fields of a local billionaire,’ Mr Sigman explained. ‘He never had his own polo ponies – he rented or borrowed them instead.’ His equine benefactor is believed to be Sarah Siegel-Magness, a billionaire heiress who worked as a Hollywood producer on films like the 2009 Oscar-winning Precious. A source said: ‘Harry and Meghan became known for making friends with people who could help them. Sarah is one of those people. Rich and with lots of polo ponies.’

The Sussexes’ home is worth a fortune: As for the couple’s sprawling 18,600 sq ft home, which they bought from a Russian businessman for $14.65 million in June 2020, local estate agents fully expect them to cash in. Montecito estate agent Daniel Encell said the property ‘could earn more than $100,000 a month in rent’ but would be worth about $40 million should they sell. ‘It’s one of the best pieces of land on the Riven Rock estate,’ said Mr Encell. ‘It has mostly usable flat land while many nearby properties are on hillsides with less usable acreage. The house next to them is currently up for sale for $30 million with a smaller acreage and much less usable land so Harry and Meghan should be able to clear $40 million for theirs. Their name and being royalty has publicity value, which would bring in a lot more interest.’

[From The Daily Mail]

The bitterness is oozing out of every pore. This is clearly from someone British as well: “Americans love success and there has been precious little of that. Their victim narrative became tiresome.” Americans don’t talk that way about ourselves and “victim narrative” comes straight from the British press. Is this all a tantrum because the Sussexes can afford to maintain multiple homes in multiple countries? Perhaps. But I also just hate that everyone is acting like California is “over” for both Harry and Meghan. I do not think that’s the case. Maybe that’s wishful thinking on my part. Anyway, Sussex fans are in the damn trenches over this. We’ll get through it.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.