Prince Harry is back on British soil with Meghan Markle and their two children after six years in California — and his first few weeks home have been anything but quiet.
The Duke of Sussex, 42, made his first major public appearance since the family’s return on September 17, attending the inaugural Invictus Spirit Gala Dinner and Awards at London’s Old Royal Naval College. The following day, he headed to Birmingham, where he laughed, played pickleball with schoolchildren and launched a new Invictus education initiative. (Good Morning America)
But when Harry was asked to describe how life had been since returning to Britain, he didn’t offer a long explanation.
He needed just one word:
“Eventful.” (The Standard)
And considering what has happened since Harry, Meghan, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet arrived back in the U.K., it was quite an understatement.
Harry Finally Spoke About Bringing His Family Home
Harry and Meghan made their biggest lifestyle change since leaving royal duties when they relocated their family back to Britain in late August.
Reuters reported on August 26 that the Sussex family had arrived in the U.K. after six years living in the United States. Archie, now 7, and Lilibet, 5, were due to begin school in Britain. Harry and Meghan were not returning as working royals. (Reuters)
The move brought Harry back to the country where he was born and raised — this time as a husband and father of two.
When he finally addressed the transition publicly, he acknowledged that it had already been a busy one.
“The last two weeks have been… it’s been eventful,” Harry said. (The Standard)
Then he gave a much more revealing update on how the four of them were actually doing.
“We’re getting stuck into the work. Kids are in school. We’re happy,” he said. (Good Morning America)
Those last two words may ultimately be more important than “eventful.”
They’re happy.
‘It’s Great to Be Back on British Soil’
Harry also made his feelings about returning home unmistakable.
“It’s great to be back on British soil,” he said while discussing his return and the upcoming Invictus Games. (Good Morning America)
For Harry, Britain isn’t simply another country in which the family happens to be living.
It’s home territory filled with complicated history.
It’s where he grew up with Prince William.
It’s where his mother, Princess Diana, raised her sons.
It’s where he served as a working member of the royal family alongside Queen Elizabeth II.
And it’s the country Harry and Meghan dramatically left in 2020 before eventually settling in Montecito, California.
Now Archie and Lilibet are experiencing their father’s homeland not as occasional visitors, but as children actually living there.
Their Children Have Already Had a Complicated Start
Harry’s comment that the “kids are in school” sounds wonderfully ordinary.
Getting there was not.
Archie and Lilibet initially began the new school year at a British prep school, but Harry and Meghan removed them after only a few days following discussions with their security team. (ITVX)
According to ITV News, the issue centered on the logistics of the school commute.
Security personnel were concerned about the family repeatedly making the same journey and potentially spending extended periods stationary in heavy traffic. They also considered the practical difficulty of keeping the family vehicle and accompanying security vehicle together. (ITVX)
Harry and Meghan’s spokesperson confirmed that the decision followed discussions with the family’s security team. (ITVX)
The children subsequently moved to another school.
By September 15, Archie and Lilibet were beginning their first full day there. (ITVX)
So when Harry told reporters two days later that his children were in school, it represented a small sign of normality after a rather chaotic beginning.
Meghan Has Given a Rare Look at Their New Family Routine
Harry isn’t the only one sharing glimpses of the family’s new chapter.
Meghan recently posted a montage of the Sussexes enjoying the British countryside.
The footage showed the family walking through woodland, fishing and spending time outdoors. Lilibet appeared riding a bicycle in wellington boots with a doll behind her, while Archie was filmed running nearby. (ITVX)
Another scene showed Harry fishing with the children.
Meghan and Harry appeared walking hand in hand.
The children’s faces remained largely protected from view, continuing the couple’s practice of sharing selective family moments while limiting their children’s exposure.
The footage offered something that royal headlines sometimes obscure: behind the security debates and family tensions, two young children are simply adjusting to a different country and a new routine.
Harry Celebrated His 42nd Birthday Back Home Too
Another milestone arrived shortly after the move.
Harry turned 42 on September 15.
Meghan marked the occasion publicly, sharing family photographs alongside an acoustic version of Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best.”
Her message was equally direct:
“He’s simply the best. Happy birthday, my love.” (ITVX)
The images included Harry skiing with Lilibet, a photograph of Harry and Meghan kissing in a vineyard and scenes of the family together in the British countryside. (ITVX)
It was Harry’s first birthday after moving his family back to his home country.
Two days later, he returned to a more public role.
His First Big Night Out Had a Familiar Purpose
On September 17, Harry arrived at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich for the inaugural Invictus Spirit Gala Dinner and Awards.
Meghan did not accompany him.
The evening instead centered on the community Harry has spent more than a decade building through the Invictus Games, the international sporting competition for wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans.
Harry founded Invictus in 2014.
At the London event, he wore black tie and medals and spent the evening speaking with members of the Invictus community. The gala raised roughly £1.7 million for the movement. (Town & Country)
For Harry, it also provided a reunion with people he had known before his years in California.
He said it was “really nice to see so many old faces and friends again.” (Geo News)
Then Came the Much More Casual Harry
The following day brought a completely different appearance.
Gone were the tuxedo and medals.
Harry arrived at Ninestiles Academy in Birmingham wearing a dark Invictus polo shirt and dark trousers to launch INSPIRE, an educational program connected with the 2027 Invictus Games. (ITVX)
Reuters photographed Harry shaking hands with a student during the September 18 visit. (Reuters Connect)
And before long, the prince was playing pickleball.
Harry joined Year 7 and Year 11 students on the court, lunging for shots and joking when one particularly low attempt made his back hurt. (The Independent)
It was the relaxed Harry audiences have frequently seen at Invictus events — competitive enough to get involved, but happy to laugh at himself.
The Program Is About More Than Sport
Harry wasn’t simply visiting the school for a game.
INSPIRE was created to bring the values of the Invictus movement into classrooms throughout the West Midlands ahead of the next Games.
The initiative uses the experiences of Invictus competitors to teach young people about resilience and mental fitness. (AOL.com)
That connection between children and Invictus seems especially meaningful for Harry now.
When he founded the Games in 2014, he wasn’t yet married.
He wasn’t a father.
More than a decade later, he is preparing for a U.K.-based Invictus Games while raising two school-age children in Britain.
Birmingham will host the Games in July 2027. (ITVX)
Harry Was Asked Who Inspires Him
During his visit, pupils also had the opportunity to question him.
One student asked Harry to identify somebody who inspires him. The exchange came as he spoke with young people about resilience and the lessons behind the Invictus movement. (The Independent)
The visit was noticeably different from the ceremonial royal engagements Harry performed before 2020.
He wasn’t there representing the monarch.
He was appearing through the organization he founded himself.
That distinction matters now that Harry and Meghan are once again British residents.
Their return to Britain does not mean they have resumed their old roles as working members of the royal family. Reuters reported that the couple’s relocation was a family move, not a return to official royal duties. (Reuters)
Britain Is Home Again — but Royal Life Isn’t
That may be the biggest difference between Harry’s old life and his new one.
He can live in Britain without returning to the institution he left.
He can take Archie and Lilibet to school.
He can work with Invictus.
He can attend charity events.
And Meghan can pursue her own projects.
But they aren’t stepping back into their previous positions as senior working royals. (Reuters)
That creates an unusual middle ground for Harry.
He is once again living in the country whose royal family he was born into while building a life outside its working structure.
His Relationship With His Family Remains Complicated
Returning to Britain also means Harry is physically much closer to his father, King Charles III, and brother, Prince William.
But proximity doesn’t automatically resolve years of family tension.
Harry and William’s strained relationship has been extensively documented, and there has been no public indication that the brothers have fully reconciled.
On the very day Harry attended his first major event back in Britain, William and Catherine were carrying out engagements on the Isle of Bute in Scotland, while Charles was also in Scotland for a separate engagement. (People.com)
Harry, meanwhile, was in London.
Three branches of the same family were publicly working in the same country — separately.
And Diana Has Suddenly Returned to the Headlines
The timing of Harry’s return has also coincided with another deeply personal royal controversy.
His uncle Charles Spencer is preparing to publish Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, a memoir containing disputed allegations about King Charles and the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death.
Buckingham Palace has challenged Spencer’s recollections.
When Harry was asked about his uncle’s book during his Invictus appearance, he did not publicly engage with the controversy. (The Sun)
That silence is notable.
Harry has spent much of his adult life speaking about the enormous effect his mother’s death had on him.
Yet during his first major public appearance after moving home, he kept the focus firmly on Invictus and his own family.
The Sussexes’ Return Isn’t a Recreation of Their Old Life
That’s perhaps the easiest thing to misunderstand about the move.
Harry and Meghan have returned to Britain.
But they haven’t returned to 2019.
They now have two children.
They have spent six years building a life in California.
They have businesses, charitable projects and relationships that didn’t exist when they left.
Their children have spent most or all of their remembered lives in the United States.
The Sussexes also retain ties to America rather than treating the move as though their California years never happened. Reports about their relocation indicate they intend to maintain connections and property outside Britain. (InStyle)
This is a new arrangement rather than an undoing of the old one.
Archie and Lilibet Will Now Know Their Father’s Country Differently
Perhaps the most consequential part of the move has nothing to do with royal politics.
Archie and Lilibet will grow up with a more direct relationship to Britain.
Archie was born in London in May 2019 but moved abroad before his first birthday.
Lilibet was born in California in June 2021.
Now, at 7 and 5, they’re attending school in Britain.
They’re seeing the countryside.
They’re experiencing rainy days in wellies.
They’re living much closer to the history and culture that shaped their father.
Meghan’s recent family video even showed the children happily embracing some quintessentially British scenery. (ITVX)
One Word Captures the Chaos — but Not the Whole Story
So yes, Harry’s description was accurate.
“Eventful.”
In a matter of weeks, his family relocated across the Atlantic.
His children started school.
Then changed schools.
He celebrated his 42nd birthday.
He returned to public engagements.
He reunited with the Invictus community.
And he began preparing for an Invictus Games that will take place on British soil next year.
Yet Harry followed that dramatic word with a much simpler update.
The kids are in school.
They’re getting on with work.
And the family is happy. (The Standard)
After years in which almost every development involving Harry and Meghan seemed to become part of a much larger argument about the monarchy, perhaps that ordinary sentence says the most about the life they are trying to create.
Prince Harry is back home — but this time, he has returned with a family and a life of his own.
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