Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Celebrity | August 21, 2026
The news that Prince Harry and Meghan would be moving back to the UK after several years in America after leaving their royal duties behind was one of the more unexpected stories of 2026. The pair will move back to London (living in private accommodation) and their two children will attend school in the city. Their reasons for doing so remain unknown to the public, and rumours swirl as to their plans in Britain: a movie role for Meghan, opportunities unavailable in Los Angeles, a desire to be close to King Charles III amid his health issues.
Honestly, there's a lot here that I think would be interesting to delve into. The Sussexes' plans to shift into a more traditional celebrity role, complete with brand deals and entertainment industry connections, did not go as planned and there's much to discuss in that space. We could get into how the pair's timidity proved an ill fit for a business driven by "relatability" and a willingness to turn your life into content, or how being a Martha Stewart-esque lifestyle creator didn't give Meghan much room to be of intrigue in a space now dominated by influencers. Certainly, we could speculate as to just how ill Charles is, with his battle against cancer having largely been kept out of the public eye. But really, all I could think when I saw the news of the Sussex return was of how this is going to be extremely messy and depressing as all hell, particularly for Meghan. I cannot escape the sensation that she is about to be put in the stocks and pelted with tomatoes by a ravenous media ecosystem that has hated her from the moment her relationship with Harry was revealed.
You can already see the ways that the usual suspects in the British press are sharpening their knives. The Daily Mail had headlines declaring Meghan's American years to be a flop, illustrated with shots of her character from Suits being sad. That paper's agenda feels especially clear given Harry's recent loss in court against them, for which he and his fellow plaintiffs must pay the organisation millions of pounds. The "concern" over who will foot their security bill is the latest way the pair are being positioned as ungrateful scroungers, as though the entire concept of a monarchy wasn't rooted in receiving taxpayer funding for doing very little. Talking heads are mocking their failed Hollywood efforts. It doesn't feel especially fair, not because the pair are exempt from criticism but because the tone of it all is one of distinct disdain for them, but mostly Meghan. A reminder that we seldom see her in public or at major events these days, but that hasn't stopped her from remaining a target for those who hate her for totally not racist or sexist reasons.
The news of Meghan coming back to the UK felt especially queasy in the aftermath of the suicide of Jason Arday. The Cambridge professor had been the subject of a highly questionable and disproportionate investigation into allegations of plagiarism and lies regarding his private life. Papers across the political spectrum besieged him and his family with smarmy think-pieces berating him as a deluded fantasist and positioning him as a symbol for the failure of "forced diversity." It's hard to overstate the sheer glee that many reporters and commentators took in turning this into a multi-week-long spree of content, and they didn't become penitent once he died. Julia Hartley-Brewer blamed him for his own passing and mocked people fundraising for his family. Sarah Ditum admitted that it had been fun to deride him before his suicide. The Times and The Telegraph dirty-deleted a few offending articles, but their agenda was clear with one minor edit: a headline going from "Jason Arday is living proof that you reap what you sow" to "Jason Arday is proof that you reap what you sow."
Meghan Markle admitted to suicidal ideation during her time as a public royal, and the responses were largely derisive. Piers Morgan spent weeks declaring that he didn't believe her. The topic seldom comes up in write-ups of Meghan nowadays, as if her mental health struggles are pointless unless they can be mined for drama. Jeremy Clarkson wrote an article bragging about how he wants to see Meghan paraded naked through the streets and pelted with faeces, and he's still heralded as a national treasure (and good friend of Queen Camilla, just saying.) Nobody has ever faced any real repercussions for this. Yes, Clarkson did receive a rare punishment from our national media standards agency but he's never lost work or money or the allure of being some grand un-PC spokesperson for the silent majority (on that hasn't been silent for decades.) It's not simply that there are no consequences for using the press to bully someone: it's that it's a profitable part of the industry.
The Sussexes return will be positioned as an act of abject humiliation, as a sign that their grand plans for a post-royal life of celebrity and self-sustainment were a failure that they must be publicly punished for. Of course, the usual suspects are actually thrilled that Meghan will be back on their turf. They never stopped treating her as public enemy number one, as the ultimate goldmine of hot takes and dog-whistles that allowed them to glory in taking a Black woman down a peg or two. As far as they're concerned, they've earned that right, now more so since her TV and influencer projects were, at best, middling. She's in an unwinnable situation and they know it.
She can go back to royal duties and get harassed for closing her own car doors and not being as good as Kate. Or she can do her own thing and be criticized for that. Her kids will be tailed by the paparazzi and the royal rota will demand official photos. Every move she makes or word she says will be dissected with the conspiratorial precision of the Zapruder film. Endless "sources" from every corner of the Firm will offer snide asides or appropriate her for damage control. And what do the Sussexes get out of this? One wonders if they are financially solvent enough to really tell everyone to piss off. What work do they want to do in London? Will they be able to maintain a semblance of normalcy when they're within spitting distance of the palace? Perhaps they have some grand multi-million-dollar deal that will make it all worth it, but it feels as though they're risking far more than they could ever hope to gain. Well, mostly Meghan, let's be honest.
