Following their decision to step down from their royal duties, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle settled in Montecito, California, probably for good. They seem to be living the life they have always longed for, but one thing they have received backlash for by the public is that they continued to be under the spotlight despite their initial intention to lead a quieter life.
Today, the couple remains very much in the public eye.
Many fans of the British monarchy view Harry’s actions as hypocritical, as he distanced himself from his family to protect his wife from media pressure, only to later expose their lives to the media in ways no other royal has before.
According to the Netflix documentary they released, Harry and Meghan were introduced to each other by a mutual friend after he spotted her in a video shared by one of his friends and couldn’t help but ask who she was.
However, despite Harry being happy with his wife and two children, he still misses his homeland and his friends from Britain, who reportedly don’t visit him because of Meghan, as per royal author Tom Quinn.
Speaking to Mirror, Quinn said, “As time goes by, Harry misses some aspects of his old life in the UK. Inevitably, the honeymoon period where everything in the States is new and exciting is coming to an end and Harry is looking back at the past through rose-tinted spectacles.”
He added: “He misses his Old Etonian and army friends, many of whom have not visited as they don’t get on with Meghan. Harry is determined to find his own permanent home in the UK, which is partly why he’s continuing his legal action to get the British taxpayer to pay for his security.”
Predictions coming from the author of Prince Edward’ ‘s 2022 memoir A Royal Life, Hugo Vickers, are that Harry would likely return to UK permanently without Meghan although he is “petrified” of losing her. “I think he’ll come home,” Vickers told The Sun. “I think he’ll come home, and if he comes home, we must be very nice to him because he won’t particularly want to. He’s quite angry, I think.”
If that happens, Vickers claims, King Charles would embrace him with arms wide open and would allow him to be a working royal again.
“The king has left the door wide open for him to do that, and he was doing such a good job before, and … he looked so happy,” the royal expert continued. “Usually, you’re happy when you’re doing your duty and you’re doing it for other people and you’re putting things into life.”
“If you’re taking things out of life, at the risk of getting a lot of hate mail, I personally think that he looks like he’s petrified of losing her [Meghan] and looks slightly petrified of her.”
Rumors are that the couple experience a hard time making friends in the States.
There is a growing rift between Harry and Meghan caused by Meghan’s increasing concern that her life is not going in the direction she had planned,” Quinn said. “She loves media attention and hates that surveys suggest she and Harry are no longer of much interest to the American public.
“With news that the couple’s Netflix contract may be under threat, along with the mockery that greeted the launch of her online brand, Meghan feels very much under siege,” he added.
In a new book, royal author Robert Jobson claims that Prince William was reportedly concerned that Harry might have rushed into marrying Meghan Markle in an effort to follow in his older brother’s footsteps by starting a family.
“William does believe Harry was rushing into marriage with Meghan – because only he understands the pressure they would be under. Kate and William took their time with their relationship and even had a brief split, as William wanted to make sure Kate was ready and could handle royal life,” Jobson wrote, as reported by OK!.
“It upsets Harry and Meghan when this is mentioned, as they’re still together, very happy, and have two gorgeous children. They knew from the start how they felt and they believe their marriage is a true love story and how they’ve overcome so much to be together,” the source said.
“But it does seem to put a strain on them and it’s like they have to constantly prove their marriage and happiness. They have lost family because of their marriage.
“It still pains them to this day and they wish it wasn’t like this – but they have no choice. They have to remain strong for each other, as that’s the only way they can get through all the speculation and criticism,” the source concluded.
We truly hope that Harry and Meghan would be able to make things right with the rest of the royals.