The Sussexes appear to be settling back in Britain for the long haul, with reports that Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, have been enrolled at private schools in the Cotswolds.
Yet, as my colleague Alison Boshoff disclosed in the Mail this week, Meghan and Harry are still expected to frame themselves as an “international couple”.
That means plenty of travel across continents — though perhaps not always aboard the private jet that carried them over the Atlantic this week, reportedly at a cost of $120,000.
Meghan is said to be planning regular trips back to California, where her As Ever brand is rooted and where she continues to market that polished Californian lifestyle. Harry, meanwhile, is expected to take on the main “at-home” parenting role.
That may sound perfectly workable on paper, but what will it mean for Archie and Lilibet when they want Mom and discover she is working on the other side of the world?
There is no doubting that both Harry and Meghan are loving, committed parents who want the very best for their children. Like so many modern families, though, they are wrestling with the challenge of work-life balance — and when much of Meghan’s work is more than 5,000 miles away, that balance will be especially hard to strike.
I hope she remembers that even the longest video call from the Golden State cannot replace the comfort of a mother’s arms.
We are told that Harry’s real reason for returning is his desire to give the children a British education.
Sources told Alison Boshoff, meanwhile, that Meghan did not initially want to return. Yet Harry is miserable in California so she is putting him first. As she would. Meghan without Harry would carry no money-making clout.
So the sensible compromise seems to be her regular trips to California. She, after all, is the one with the ambition and drive compared to dim-witted Harry.
But I hope she remembers that a video call from the Golden State, however long, is no substitute for a mum’s loving arms.
A judge rejects Ghislaine Maxwell’s latest appeal to overturn her 20-year sentence for sex trafficking girls as Jeffrey Epstein’s madam. Look on the bright side ‘Spratt’, as your villainous father lovingly called you: four years served, just 16 to go.
Magic gone, Nic?
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman attend the Practical Magic 2 premiere at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman appear at the premiere of Practical Magic 2, reprising their roles in the 1998 movie as witches who are sisters. A welcome re-appearance for Sandra, who took a three-year break from Hollywood to care for her family and herself after the death of her partner Bryan Randall in 2023.
Is it just me or did she freeze as if being hugged by a python when workaholic Nic – who’s made three movies in that time – wrapped herself around her? Pure conjecture but it seems there’s practically no magic between them at all.
England fast bowler Brydon Carse is dropped from the Test after ‘a nightclub incident’, with captain Joe Root saying he is ‘hacked off’ with Carse’s late-night escapades. That’s nothing compared to what it was like back in the Eighties when I was a member of the Sydney Cricket Ground and witnessed legendary fast bowler Dennis Lillee and his cohorts drinking in the pavilion – during matches!
Former child star Liza Goddard reveals there wasn’t just one Skippy but… 20 in the 1960s TV series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
Fans of 1960s TV series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo should look away as the show’s former child star Liza Goddard reveals there wasn’t just one Skippy but… 20. And he couldn’t actually operate radios, open doors or play the piano. They used a kangaroo-paw bottle-opener to fake close-ups of him doing so. Rest in peace Skippy, to us you’ll always be a friend ever true.
A warning to the King now Harry’s team believe there’s new hope his family’s security could be funded by taxpayers at a cost of £5million a year. Charles’ personal wealth is around £680million – if he wants to keep our support, he must fund Harry himself.
Jennifer Lopez in a Dolce & Gabbana strapless tulle ballgown after scooping a £20million deal with the high-end fashion brand
With her new $20million Dolce & Gabbana deal, friends fear J-Lo is perhaps getting a bit greedy, given she demands $40,000 for every red-carpet appearance backed by her ‘glam squad’. It includes three stylists, three make-up artists, two hair stylists, a nail professional and several photographers. Reassuring for us middle-aged mortals, though, that it takes a gang the size of a football team to make her look that fab.
Newsnight may get the chop in the Beeb’s cost cuttings. The sad truth is that the once inquisitorial show, presented by dreary Victoria Derbyshire, is full of Lefty bias. The new BBC DG says ‘success is now down to clicks’ and the only click in my home when Newsnight’s on is when I switch over.
Despite being one of the first Harry Potter child stars to attack JK Rowling over her trans beliefs, Rupert Grint – the ginger one aptly named Weasley who’s made $50million on the back of her – is to appear in JK’s Broadway show Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. What a hypocrite.
A test for friends…
Richard E. Grant reveals he held a boozy and tearful memorial lunch at his home for his true friends, those who stood by him when his beloved wife Joan died in 2021.
In contrast, he says the ones who kept their distance after her death he has edited out of his life.
And rightly so. Just as I did with one lifelong friend who failed even to send me a text when both my parents died, then emailed asking me to endorse her forthcoming book. She is permanently deleted from my phone – and my life.
As ex-teacher Sally-Anne Bowen is found guilty and awaits sentencing for sexually abusing boy pupils in the 1980s when she was in her 20s, why is she not described as a paedophile? Because that’s what she is.
Andy Burnham played a guitar and sang The Smiths’ dirge Rusholme Ruffians to Ukrainian soldiers on a recent trip to the war-torn country
We should all be worried about the tone-deafness displayed by our Andy when he strummed a guitar and sang The Smiths’ dirge Rusholme Ruffians to battle-weary soldiers on a trip to Ukraine.
If ever there was a staged photo opp, this was it. As if a guitar and mic would miraculously appear out of the blue! His singalong was embarrassing – haven’t Ukraine’s soldiers suffered enough?
Queen Camilla celebrates the centenary of Winnie-the-Pooh, describing A.A. Milne’s little bear as offering ‘wisdom in a complicated world’.
Indeed, when a 12-year-old terrified at having to read at his dad’s second wedding asked me what he could recite, I suggested Milne’s poem ‘Us Two’ – ‘Wherever I am, there’s always Pooh, There’s always Pooh and Me’. Not a dry eye in the church.
Strictly, Rose owes a lot to Gio
Reading Giovanni Pernice’s memoir, I was struck by his heartbreak that Rose Ayling-Ellis, the deaf celeb with whom he shared one of Strictly’s most memorable moments – dancing in silence – didn’t back him in his battle against Amanda Abbington and the Beeb. Does Rose ever ask herself if her TV career would be so glittering without Gio?
