Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their decision to step back from royal duties and move to North America in January this year, and there are two logical reasons for such a big change.
SEE: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's home at Frogmore Cottage: what it's really like inside
WATCH: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex step back from royal duties
© Photo: Getty ImagesMeghan's mother Doria Ragland lives in the USA
One, the Duchess of Sussex's mother Doria Ragland lives there, and so Harry and Meghan's son Archie will be able to spend more time with his grandmother as he grows up. Of course, the couple will be splitting their time between North America and the UK in order for Archie to maintain a relationship with his British family, but it makes sense that the couple would like for him to do so with Doria, too.
MORE: Inside Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's first marital home at Nottingham Cottage
© Photo: Getty ImagesPrince Harry's mother Princess Diana had hoped to buy a home in the USA
Secondly, Harry's late mother Princess Diana was a huge fan of the USA. It was reported that she had considered moving abroad to North America in the year following her divorce from Prince Charles, and so Harry may have been influenced by the link to his mother.
In November 2019, Diana's former butler Paul Burrell confirmed that she had hoped to spend more time there during an episode of Loose Women. "Diana was also deciding to spend some of her time in America," he explained to the panel. "In fact, the day she died, on her desk were plans of a home in Malibu in California, which she was in the process of purchasing. She was going to take William and Harry for three, four weeks every year to America to give them a different culture, to give them a different insight into life."
In fact, Meghan and Harry have now bought their very first home together in Santa Barbara, just one hour away from Malibu, where Diana had intended on investing in a property.
A representative for Harry and Meghan told HELLO! that they moved into the family home with son Archie in July, adding, "They have settled into the quiet privacy of their community since their arrival and hope that this will be respected for their neighbours, as well as for them as a family."
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