Prince Harry & Meghan Markle 'Seem To Be Very, Very Happy' In California, Expert Says: 'They've Made A Lot Of Friends Here'
It's been a long time since Meghan Markle and Prince Harry decided to leave the royal family and put roots down on the West Coast, and it seems like they are confident in their decision to move away from the U.K.
"Harry’s been out on his bicycle and walking his adopted labrador on Miramar Beach, and she’s been out shopping in both the upper village and lower village and they seem to be very, very happy as far as I can see," royal expert Richard Mineards, who also lives in Montecito, Calif., said. "They’ve made a lot of friends here, particularly Orlando [Bloom] and Katy [Perry] who live nearby on Park Lane."
“They also have good friendships with Ellen [DeGeneres] and Oprah [Winfrey] who live minutes away so they may well have been going over there and vice versa with the children," he added.
Mineards shared that the couple might keep their eyes on Cold Spring School, as the program is "very, very good" for their kids, Lilibet and Archie.
In early 2020, the pair revealed they were stepping down as senior members of the royal family and moving elsewhere.
"I was desperate. I went to all the places that I thought I should go to to ask for help. We both did, separately and together," Harry told Winfrey of his decision.
"We never left the family and we only wanted to have the same type of role that exists. There's senior members and there's non-senior. We said specifically, senior roles," the former actress, 40, added. "[There are people] who earn a living, live on palace grounds, can support the Queen if and when called upon. We weren't reinventing the wheel."
Ultimately, the red-headed royal, 37, didn't want to be treated how his mother was. "My biggest concern was history repeating itself. And what I was seeing was history repeating itself. But far more dangerous because you add race in, you add social media in … I'm talking about my mother. When you can see something happening in the same kind of way, anybody would ask for help. Ask the system of which you are part of," he said.
