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Reuters reported on August 20 that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle plan to relocate from California to a private residence outside London this month, where their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet will begin school in September. The news agency stated that King Charles learned of the decision only days earlier and welcomed the development following a recent family visit. Relations with Prince William remain strained, multiple outlets including The Guardian and CNN noted, while the couple will not resume working royal duties under terms set with the late Queen Elizabeth.
The couple’s post-2020 media contracts delivered substantial payments but produced uneven outcomes, according to a Celebrity Net Worth breakdown published in March. The Netflix agreement, valued at around 60 million dollars rather than the headline 100 million figure, resulted in the successful Harry and Meghan documentary series yet saw several other projects including an animated series cancelled before release. Spotify’s deal, estimated between 15 million and 25 million dollars, ended in 2023 after a single season of the Archetypes podcast, with the streaming giant confirming it would not renew the contract.
Meghan Markle’s As Ever lifestyle brand has recorded both strong product launches and declining online interest in recent months, Newsweek analyses based on Similarweb data showed. Harper’s Bazaar reported last August that the brand’s Napa Valley rosé sold 10,000 bottles in the first 10 minutes of one release, with order volumes rising substantially from earlier drops and nearly 50 percent growth between consecutive launches. Website visits fell 46 percent in the first six months of 2026, however, with June recording 145,000 total visits compared with 268,000 in January, the publication added.
Branding experts have pointed to a fragmented portfolio as a central difficulty since the couple left royal duties. Andrew Stephen, the L’Oréal professor of marketing at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, told the BBC that the Sussexes attracted enormous initial attention in the United States and monetised it effectively but struggled to convert that into an enduring brand. Susan Fournier, a former professor at Harvard Business School and Boston University, said in the same interview that repeated shifts from royal insiders to critics and then to media producers and lifestyle influencers create risks because successful brands maintain consistency.
Public approval ratings in Britain remain low, a Wall Street Journal article citing YouGov data indicated on August 20. Only 27 percent of respondents held a favourable view of Prince Harry while 18 percent felt positively toward Meghan Markle, figures that place the couple just above Prince Andrew in domestic sentiment. The return also reopens long-running disputes over personal security and press relations, with Harry having lost recent court actions against media publishers and the government on protection arrangements, Reuters and Politico reported.
The couple will maintain their philanthropic focus through Archewell and Prince Harry’s Invictus Games, which is scheduled for Birmingham next year, according to CNN and The Washington Post. Meghan Markle is in talks for a role in a new Netflix comedy series, the BBC understands, marking a potential return to acting. A move toward the Cotswolds could align with the rural English aesthetic of As Ever, one London-based stylist told the BBC, though experts cautioned that location alone would not resolve underlying brand definition issues.
