Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, are said to be in no mood to respond to anything the Sussexes say or do — and on August 21, 2026, the couple were photographed pulling away from the Balmoral estate in a convoy of cars alongside King Charles III, only days after the surprise announcement that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are moving back to Britain.
Charles, 77, took the wheel of a hybrid electric Range Rover Sport Autobiography as the vehicles moved along the A939 near the Aberdeenshire estate, with William and Kate riding together in a Land Rover Discovery. The king’s sister, Princess Anne, drove herself in a separate car. Anne’s daughter Zara Tindall and her husband, Mike Tindall, were spotted in another, while James, Earl of Wessex, drove his father, Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh.
A “Sussex Summit” in the Highlands
Part of the day was believed to have been spent grouse shooting near Corgarff Castle, about 30 minutes by car from Balmoral, a source indicated. The sheer number of senior royals on hand at once earned the visit the label “Sussex summit,” and Charles and William are reported to have talked over the Wednesday announcement while there. Still, there is nothing out of the ordinary about the gathering itself — heading north to Scotland each summer is a long-standing family habit.
August 18 marked the start of the king’s yearly stay. Hours earlier, the Tindalls had arrived at the estate gates for the traditional welcome ceremony, as had Anne’s son Peter Phillips with his new wife, Harriet Sperling. Lena and Mia Tindall were there too, along with Savannah and Isla, Peter’s daughters with his former wife, Autumn Kelly, and Harriet’s daughter, Georgina. William and Kate followed the next day with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
Radio Silence From the Waleses
Neither William nor Kate has said anything publicly about Harry’s plans. Emily Nash, royal editor at HELLO!, pointed out that the two would not usually even be in Scotland at this point in the calendar. “Well, what is intriguing about this is the complete radio silence coming from that end of the spectrum,” she said on HELLO!’s “A Right Royal Podcast.” Her guess, she added, is that the news has not gone down well with them.
Years of public allegations have left the brothers’ bond close to irreparable, according to Nash, who said the prospect of the Sussexes reappearing in Britain and stepping into the spotlight would be a difficult adjustment. Of William and Kate, she also said: “I can’t see a world in which they would be welcoming them back with open arms.”
William, as matters stand, has no wish to patch things up with Harry, one source with knowledge of the family said, adding that he and Kate see no reason to react to whatever the Sussexes announce or do. The two couples had no public exchange at the 2022 funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. A string of interviews that made headlines widened the split further, as did the Netflix series the Sussexes made and what Harry revealed in his memoir.
Questions Over Security and Schools
Reports emerged on the night of Wednesday, August 19 that the Sussexes plan to return to Britain before August is out, ending six years based in the United States. The couple are keeping hold of their homes in Montecito and Portugal; a private, non-royal property somewhere outside London will serve as their new base. Schools in the U.K. have already given places to Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, with term due to begin for them in the opening days of September. Meghan is expected to keep running her lifestyle label, As Ever, from Britain.
A great deal is still unsettled — above all the timing of the move, the exact location of the new home and the question of who pays for protecting the family once they are on British soil. In court, Harry has battled the Home Office for years over his British security arrangements following a downgrade in the protection he receives, and observers anticipate that funding will rank among the matters the family has to resolve.
His younger son’s intentions reached the king on August 16, three days ahead of the public statement, and William was told in advance as well. Beyond that small circle, the plan is said to have landed as a complete surprise. Sources say it never came up when Charles and Queen Camilla hosted Harry and Meghan at Highgrove at the start of July.
Charles himself is said to like the idea of seeing more of his family. Harry, Meghan and the children had a private reunion with the king on their last trip to Britain, a meeting that carried extra weight because he had last laid eyes on Archie and Lilibet in 2022.
For the family, the return closes a circle that opened in January 2020, when the couple revealed they intended to step back from their roles as senior working royals. The late queen used the Norfolk meeting later remembered as the 2020 “Sandringham Summit” to determine that there could be no halfway arrangement with the institution, and by March 2020 Harry and Meghan had settled permanently in California. Nobody at Balmoral has yet spelled out what their return means for the working monarchy — or for two brothers who remain estranged.
