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The announcement that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are relocating to the United Kingdom with their children came as a shock to many. But looking back over the past year, the couple had been leaving a trail of clues that suggested the move might be coming. From Harry’s comments in interviews to Britain to potential Easter eggs in Meghan’s Instagram photos, the signs might have been there. Here is a look at some of the moments that, in retrospect, pointed toward the news.
Prince Harry wrote several letters about Britain.
One clear signal came in November 2025, when the Duke of Sussex published an emotional essay, titled “The Bond, The Banter, The Bravery: What it means to be British,” ahead of Remembrance Day describing his deep connection to the country. “Though currently, I may live in the United States, Britain is, and always will be, the country I proudly served and fought for,” Harry wrote. “The banter of the mess, the clubhouse, the pub, the stands—ridiculous as it sounds, these are the things that make us British. I make no apology for it. I love it.”
In May 2026, he wrote a second piece, this time for The New Statesman, addressing the rise in antisemitism in Britain following a stabbing in Golders Green. “Britain has long prided itself on valuing reason over outrage, dialogue over division and civility over noise,” he wrote. “At moments like these, those values matter more than ever.”
Prince Harry talked about it with a famous friend.
As noted by People, at the WellChild Awards in London last September, Prince Harry struck up a conversation with longtime friend Joss Stone, who had recently returned to the UK with her own family after years in Nashville. (The British singer previously attended Harry and Meghan’s wedding at Windsor Castle in 2018.) He reportedly asked her about the experience of moving home and was particularly interested in what it had meant for her children and their schooling. “He was saying how wonderful the schools are here and how important community is for children,” Stone later told Hello. She added: “Maybe Harry will move back too. That would be nice.”
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Joss Stone at St. George’s Chapel for Harry and Meghan’s wedding.
Harry publicly rebuked Trump.
In January 2026, President Trump suggested in a Fox News interview that NATO allies had “stayed a little off the front lines” in Afghanistan. Prince Harry, a combat veteran of two Afghan tours, responded with a stern, but formal statement. “I served there. I made lifelong friends there. And I lost friends there,” he said. “The United Kingdom alone had 457 service personnel killed.” The rebuttal was pointed and very public, and it placed him clearly on the side of Britain and its allies in a dispute with the U.S. president. People later noted in its report on the UK move that the couple had “made no secret of their disillusionment with the current White House.”
Prince Archie was spotted in an England football shirt.
In June 2026, Meghan posted a Father’s Day photograph showing Harry and Archie together, with the seven-year-old wearing an England football shirt. The Duke of Sussex later expressed his sorrow over the Three Lions’ semifinal loss to Argentina while at the Time100 Sports Gala in July, although he did not attend the World Cup at all (nor did any other member of the British royal family).
Prince Harry also shared his love of English football on James Corden’s After Hours show for Fox Sports during the tournament, during which he declared British beer better than American counterparts and called out the host for referring to the sport as “soccer.” He also took part in ranking Britain’s four top “Harrys”, placing himself third behind Harry Styles and Harry Kane but ahead of Harry Potter.
The couple publicly backed UK online safety legislation.
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Meghan speaking at an event related to social media safety in Geneva in May.
In May, the Duchess of Sussex traveled to Switzerland to attend the inauguration of a memorial dedicated to children who have lost their lives as a result of online abuse. The couple have long been outspoken on the issue of children’s safety online through their charitable organization, Archewell Philanthropies.
The following month, the couple issued a joint statement welcoming new UK government measures to protect children online, writing on their official website: “Lasting change requires safer platforms by design, meaningful accountability, and a commitment to putting children’s wellbeing ahead of engagement and profit. The burden cannot rest solely on parents and children. It must also be borne by the companies. Until then, every day without meaningful change is another day that children remain exposed to preventable harm.” The statement aligned them policy debates that are growing in the UK and European Union, and the fact that they were paying close enough attention to British domestic legislation to issue a formal response was itself a signal of where their attention was turning.
Harry described himself as “Prince of England.”
During a July appearance on a podcast hosted by former English rugby player Joe Marler (and also one of the standout stars of Celebrity Traitors UK), Harry was asked his occupation. His response? “Prince of England,” “Duke,” and “full time dad.” Not your average answer—at least not the first two. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex ceased using the HRH title as non-working royals in 2020.
The family reunited with King Charles.
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Prince Harry playing pickleball at an Invictus Games event in Birmingham.
The couple had a busy summer. The family made their most significant UK visit since 2022 this past July, returning for Harry to mark one year until the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham. But the trip also included an unexpected private reunion with King Charles and Queen Camilla at Highgrove, where the King met Archie and Lilibet for the first time in four years. Meghan also made her first appearance in the UK since Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in 2022. For a couple who had not traveled to Britain together in years, the July visit looked very much like a trial run. (That said, T&C understands that King Charles only found out about the Duke and Duchess’s intended move on Sunday and that this was not discussed when he saw the family on their trip to the UK last month.)
The Sussexes enjoyed a late summer vacation in Europe.
The “summer holiday” Instagram post signaled a shift in how the family was spending its time—and where. Meghan shared a series of snapshots to Instagram from the family vacation to Portugal in August, and the couple have reportedly purchased a vacation home there. While the People report noted that the couple would be keeping their Montecito home, a Portugal vacation home makes more sense to frequent when you’re based out of Europe rather than the west coast of the United States.
Rachel King (she/her) is a news writer at Town & Country. Before joining T&C, she spent nearly a decade as an editor at Fortune. Her work covering travel and lifestyle has appeared in Forbes, Observer, Robb Report, Cruise Critic, and Cool Hunting, among others. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in New York with her wife, their daughter, and a precocious labradoodle. Follow her on Instagram at @rk.passport.