Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex. Picture: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
New details have emerged about Prince Harry’s life in the US five years after stepping down as a senior member of the royal family.
According to The Sun, the Duke of Sussex has barely spoken to his family in years.
Insiders told the outlet that Harry has been lonely and rarely leaves his mansion in Montecito, California while his wife, Meghan Markle, launches her lifestyle and podcast projects.
The royal couple own $29 million worth of property and appear to have it all when it comes to picking a location they want to live. This includes $7.2 million in Portugal. But not all is well in paradise it seems.
“First he was a spare to William, now he’s increasingly looking like a spare to Meghan — and it’s not a great look,” one source said.
A friend told The Sun that Harry “misses his family terribly” and “no one is speaking to him any more”.
“He just wants to go for a beer with the guys, but his only friends are just the husbands of Meghan’s friends,” a friend said.
Since the Sussexes stepped back from royal duties, Harry gave up his military titles, his status as working royal and any income from the Sovereign Grant.
But things have not been plain sailing since then — and just this week Harry stepped down from his HIV and Aids charity Sentebale amid accusations of bullying and racism.
The charity, set up in memory of his mother Princess Diana, was one of the remaining legacies from his time as a working royal.
Harry has been lonely and rarely leaves his mansion in Montecito, California while his wife, Meghan Markle, launches her lifestyle and podcast projects. Picture: Chris Jackson / Getty
Meghan and Harry live in a $20.9 million mansion, which they purchased in 2020. Picture: Google Maps
Harry “misses his family terribly”. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Harry said he won’t return to the UK with Meghan and their two young children unless he wins his High Court fight for 24-hour armed security, which was removed when he quit as a working royal.
While it is believed the prince is still in touch with a few long-standing mates from the UK, many have abandoned him after his attacks on the Royal Family.
His cousin Princess Eugenie — his last remaining royal ally — has been cast out by the prince.
Harry and Meghan had even bought an investment property in Portugal near Eugenie and her husband Jack’s, and holidayed there in 2023.
The couple reportedly splurged more than $US4.7 million ($A7.2 million) on a yet-to-be-constructed home at CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club, a luxury development of 300 properties on the Atlantic Ocean in the small town of Melides, about 130km south of the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.
However, it is understood the friendship floundered after she was photographed last April with Piers Morgan — a strong critic of Harry and Meghan.
“A dim view was taken of this, as Piers has clashed with Meghan and Harry in the past,” a friend said.
“Eugenie has been supportive of Harry and Meghan for years and was right there at the beginning of their relationship — but it has now soured.”
A perceived growing closeness with Diana’s brother Earl Spencer — who has just gone through his third divorce — has been overstated, with claims that Harry stayed at the Spencers’ family home Althorp House in Northamptonshire last August are understood to be incorrect.
Harry had flown back to Britain for his uncle Robert Fellowes’s funeral, which was also attended by Prince William.
But the brothers — who have barely spoken since Megxit — did not share a word.
Harry was noticeably absent from the Duke of Westminster’s wedding in the summer, where William was an usher.
Harry said he won’t return to the UK with Meghan and their two young children unless he wins his High Court fight for 24-hour armed security
Picture: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie has been cast out by him. Picture: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
While Harry is a devoted and loving father to his children Archie, five, and three-year-old Lilibet, the Sussexes have disagreed in the past over how much they could allow their children to be seen in public.
‘Conscious business uncoupling’
Harry wants to keep their children out of the press while Meghan is more in tune with the US celebrity vibe of using your children as part of your brand.
The “Suits” actress has increasingly featured the children in social media posts and promotional material for her company that launches this year.
Harry and Meghan have undergone a “conscious business uncoupling” this year — with the result that they spend less time together.
The move means that since January their business projects have been separated, with Meghan renaming her lifestyle brand As Ever, and her upcoming podcast “Confessions Of A Female Founder”.
Harry was demoted to a few seconds of looking uncomfortable in the final scene of her much-derided Netflix series “With Love, Meghan”.
The couple earlier this month in a social media post for International Women’s Day. Picture: Instagram
Meghan Markle has posted a new photo of prince Archie and Princess Lilibet on March 24 2025
Harry was demoted to a few seconds of looking uncomfortable in the final scene of her much-derided Netflix series “With Love, Meghan”.
In his first 18 months after Megxit, Harry bought a California mansion, got a job at a Silicon Valley start-up, had a second child, started writing his memoir and signed a megabucks deal with Netflix.
The Sussexes moved to a $14.65 million ($A20.9 million) mansion in the same neighbourhood as A-listers like Katy Perry, Ellen DeGeneres, and Oprah back in 2020 when they stepped down from their roles as senior working royals.
According to Realtor, the sprawling property boasts nine bedrooms, 16 bathrooms, a pool, and a tennis court.
Since then, his Netflix show Polo bombed, all contact with his brother and father has ceased, and this week he stepped down from his Sentebale charity.
It is also understood that there are no plans for any more Netflix shows, with Harry either in front of or behind the camera, as the deal runs out.
But his job as Chief Impact Officer at BetterUp Inc, an online coaching and mental health firm, is thought to be continuing.
The Invictus Games community is often dubbed Harry’s “family” but there is not another tournament scheduled for another two years, when it will be hosted by Birmingham.
At the 2023 Games in Dusseldorf he was hanging out with male friends and going for pints of Guinness in an Irish bar.
Meghan left this year’s games in Canada early to be at home with their children, leaving Harry alone on Valentine’s Day
The Invictus Games, and to a lesser extent his WellChild patronage, are the only things from Harry’s pre-Megxit royal life that he has clung on to.
This week, after a legal row with the Sentebale charity’s chairman Dr Sophie Chanduaka, he stepped down from the organisation which he had set up in 2006 with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to help children with HIV and Aids.
In a hugely damaging statement Dr Chanduaka blasted what she described as “weak governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir [misogyny directed at black women] — and the cover-up that ensued”.
Captain Mark Dyer, who Harry portrayed in his memoir Spare as a father figure and a close pal, has also stepped back from the charity.
Five years ago the Megxit settlement that Harry agreed with his gran Queen Elizabeth allowed the couple to use Frogmore Cottage, near Windsor Castle, as their UK home.
But they were evicted a few weeks after the King’s Coronation.
Last February, after jetting back to see his father days after his cancer diagnosis, Harry said: “I love my family.
“The fact I could jump on a plane and see him and spend any time with him, I’m grateful for that.”
And he claimed: “Any illness, any sickness brings families together,” and pledged: “I’ll stop in and see my family as much as I can.”
But Harry has not seen his father since then, and having to learn via the news when the King goes into hospital indicates that his loneliness and isolation is set to continue.
