Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 'relate to Britain differently' after spending six years in California, according to Omid Scobie, the couple's past biographer.
Scobie, who has previously been described as a 'cheerleader' of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, shared his thoughts on their planned return to the UK, more than six years after they quit their royal roles in 2020.
Sussexes 'not the same people who left'
Writing on his newly launched Substack, called Off Script, Scobie said the Sussexes are now 'older, raising two children, building businesses and careers independent of royal life'. He added: 'Harry and Meghan themselves are not the same people who left.'
Scobie, known for his close relationship with the couple, said he was told in 2023 that California was 'not destined to be the only base' for them, and that moving to the UK makes sense for the next phase of their lives.
Biographer reflects on his own move
Scobie reflected on his own experiences under the spotlight as a result of his friendship with the Duke and Duchess, noting he also moved from London to California in 2023, three years after Harry and Meghan.
'Leaving somewhere and returning to it later are not contradictory acts,' he wrote. 'Sometimes distance is what reshapes the relationship. The place you come from can mean something different in your forties or fifties than it did in your twenties or thirties, after years away and as priorities shift.'
Planning the move
Scobie co-authored the 2020 book Finding Freedom, a biography chronicling the Sussexes' lives, and wrote the 2023 book Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival. Upon the news of the couple's move back to the UK breaking, he claimed they have been 'slowly and methodically' planning their move to Britain, adding that clues about them leaving America after six years 'have been there all along'.
Speaking to ABC News, Scobie said: 'I think if you've been watching the story really closely, the clues have been there all along. We saw earlier this year that Harry and Meghan started to scale down the size of their offices here, the number of staff working for them in the US. We also saw them scale down their charitable foundation as well to operate on a different working model.'
'And so you can see then along the way this is a couple that have been slowly and methodically planning some form of move. Whether it's the version that was announced [last week], only they know, but this is definitely a couple that have been looking to make changes, for sure.'
