Prince Harry has been living in Montecito, California, with his wife, Meghan Markle, and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, since 2020.
However, Harry, 41, could have moved somewhere totally different just under a decade earlier.
In his 2023 memoir Spare, he shared that he considered escaping to a group of Norwegian islands in the Arctic Ocean just weeks before Prince William married Kate Middleton in April 2011.
Harry considered moving weeks before William and Kate’s wedding (Credit: Cover Images)
Prince Harry was tempted by Svalbard
Harry wrote in the book: “My plane landed on an archipelago called Svalbard. March 2011. Stepping off the plane, I did a slow turn, taking it all in. White, white, and more white. As far as the eye could see, nothing but ivory, snowy whiteness. White mountains, white snowdrifts, white hills, and threaded through it were narrow white roads, and not many of those. Most of the two thousand local residents had a snowmobile, not a car.
“The landscape was so minimalist, so spare, I thought: Maybe I’ll move here. Maybe this is my purpose.”
Ultimately, of course, Harry decided against moving to Svalbard. Located about halfway between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole, it’s home to a range of Arctic animals, including polar bears, something that put him off.
I thought: Maybe I’ll move here. Maybe this is my purpose.
“I found out about the local law forbidding anyone to leave town without a gun, because the hills beyond were patrolled by desperately hungry polar bears,” he explained. “And I thought: Maybe not.”
Harry has travelled around the world over the years. Notably, he spent time in Afghanistan while in the British Army, and has frequently visited Africa – including South Africa, Lesotho and Botswana – often for charity work.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Cape Town in 2019 (Credit: Cover Images)
Harry and Meghan considered South Africa move
He and Meghan considered living in South Africa together for a while, too, with the plan even signed off by Queen Elizabeth II. The couple were trying to work out how to stay as working royals but live somewhere else for part of the year. And Cape Town was on the list.
“What if we could spend at least part of each year somewhere far away, still doing work for the Queen, but beyond the reach of the press?” he wrote in Spare. “Free. Free from the British press, free from the drama, free from the lies. But also free from the supposed ‘public interest’ that was used to justify the frenzied coverage of us.
“The question was…where? We talked about New Zealand. We talked about South Africa. Half the year in Cape Town, maybe? That could work. Away from the drama, but closer to my conservation work – and to eighteen other Commonwealth countries. I’d run the idea by Granny once before. She’d even signed off on it.”
Ultimately, they moved to Meghan’s native US instead, where they’re raising their children. However, Harry came back to the UK for a few days earlier this month amid rumours of reconciliation between the Duke of Sussex and his family.
He met his father, King Charles, during the trip, and they enjoyed a “private tea” for just under an hour.
It’s also been reported that he visited the Duke of Kent, following the death of his wife, Katharine, Duchess of Kent, on September 4, to offer his condolences in person.
However, reports that he and Meghan are considering returning to the UK with their children have been shut down, with a source close to the duke denying the plans.
Read more: Prince Harry hits back at claims he’s ‘trying to drive wedge’ between King Charles and William
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