Boshoff: The Sussexes might not buy a Cotswolds property right away

The Mail’s Alison Boshoff had another big exclusive during the Labor Day holiday weekend. Boshoff is the one who correctly predicted the “reverse Sussexit” back in June/July. Her sources have insisted for months that Prince Harry was desperate to return to the UK full-time, and that he’s been obsessively trying to engineer a “half-in solution” for himself and his family this whole time. All of which seems true in retrospect, right? Therefore, we have to at least consider the idea that Boshoff’s sources are not completely full of sh-t. Well, here are some highlights from the latest exclusive:

The kids’ British education: We now know, from multiple sources, that the children are enrolled in local schools. Harry’s friends say he was driven by a desire to start Archie, seven, at a classic traditional British prep school, which will echo some of the happiest days of his life at Ludgrove prep in Berkshire. Lili, five, will go to pre-prep in the same school.

A full-time dad: The idea, say pals, is that Harry will be a ‘full-time dad’ and Meghan will come and go between the Cotswolds and their home in Montecito, in order to keep her business and media hopes alive. Harry will be cheering from the sidelines as Archie learns rugby and Meghan has been getting her head around the idea of school on a Saturday. However, much about their new life remains in flux for the Sussexes, given the relative hastiness of their decision to move.

Have the Sussexes bought a property yet? I hear from a friend of Harry’s it might be up to 18 months before they move in anywhere. ‘They are staying in a property on the estate of a friend,’ they say. ‘But the truth is Harry feels they are highly unlikely to find somewhere that is just ready to move into. He thinks it may be 12 to 18 months before they’re into a new place, and that’s if you are thinking about completing at the end of this year or early next year. So it could be even further away than that. It’s likely that if you have the £8million-plus budget, which they do, that a house will be historic which makes renovations more complicated because there are heritage issues. The kind of property they are looking for with the amount of land doesn’t come up every week so they know it might be a long search for the right place.’

Harry thinks there’s movement on police protection: ‘Now, though,’ says the source, ‘a police liaison officer has been assigned to them, and Ravec are again assessing the situation now the children have regular routines. There is some security where they’re staying, as there is on all estates of that size. They also have security which they are paying for privately. But Ravec are right now re-evaluating them and their new circumstances. As well as them now being in the UK and with children and school, the fact is that Britain in 2026 is different from Britain in 2020. The thinking is that, in the next couple of weeks, there will be an announcement that Ravec will amend their security status to some degree.’ Which feels rather like what used to be called ‘gunboat diplomacy’. Harry’s move home seems to have called everyone’s bluff – much to his benefit.

Harry wants to reconcile with Prince William. A friend says: ‘It’s too soon now but there is a hope and a belief that one day they will appear in public together and that will completely change the narrative. There is communication between them. I don’t think people quite realise what a bad place Harry was in mentally around the time of that decision to move to America. He was so unhappy. He has grown up a lot, and having children has changed him a lot as well.’

Team William pushes back: That’s not a narrative other royal sources recognise, however. One tells me: ‘I don’t believe that there is communication between the brothers. There was a story some time ago which suggested Harry sent a message after Kate’s cancer diagnosis and it was ignored.’

Harry also wants to spend more time with his father: Harry’s friend said: ‘They are hoping to see more of the King and for the children to properly get to know him and be a part of his life. I do think Harry will try to make his arrangements without involving the Palace apparatus as far as he can. Yes, a cup of tea and a run around the garden for half an hour on a Sunday, that sort of thing.’

William is incandescent: It remains to be seen, though, whether similar familial contentment could ever be achieved with the Waleses. The more cynical source said: ‘William is never ever going to talk about it, so you shouldn’t believe anyone who tells you they know what he’s thinking. William is the arch pragmatist unlike Harry, who would – and has – cut off his nose to spite his face. William would never do anything to weaken the institution. If the focus groups say that everyone wants Harry back then I think he would listen, but they don’t even remotely say that at the moment.’

Meghan is totally behind the move: Harry’s friends continue to stoutly insist that ‘Megs’ is ‘100 per cent all-in’ with the move. Time will tell as it will be a challenge for her to keep her As Ever Instagram feed full of aspirational Californian sunshine content when she’s having a wet Wednesday on the school run. One imagines house-hunting will be a good project to keep Meghan occupied. Harry’s friend tells me: ‘They have engaged a number of agents who have been looking for them for the past month or so. Everyone is speculating like mad on which places they like or don’t like, or might buy.’

[From The Mail]

This is so interesting to me because Boshoff is clearly going to Kensington Palace with whatever she’s “hearing” about Harry and Meghan’s plans. So she not only has exclusives about the Sussexes’ plans, she has real-time reactions to those plans from Prince William’s team. And William is furious! No surprise, but it’s still funny. That small detail about William ignoring Harry’s attempt to reach out in 2024 is interesting to me, because I actually covered all of the royal gossip during that wall-to-wall crisis, and I remember “sources” claiming that William was furious that Harry had not called him directly or offered to help William in his time of need. That would also explain why we keep getting stories of how William blames Harry for everything that happened in 2024 too. In William’s mind, Harry should have abandoned his wife and children to come running back to the UK in 2024.

As for the speculation about what property (if any) the Sussexes will purchase… I don’t know. I think it’s interesting that so many people are trying to track it though – there’s more interest in two people purchasing a private estate than there was interest in William and Kate’s “forever home” Forest Lodge.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.