President Donald Trump reacted positively to reports that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are making an unexpected move back to the UK.
“I’m happy about it,” Trump said when asked about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex leaving their Montecito home and returning to Britain. He made clear, however, that he had not supported the couple’s past actions, adding that he had enjoyed a “very good relationship with the Queen and with [King] Charles.”
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he believed Harry and Meghan had shown the Royal Family “great disrespect,” and did not hide his criticism of the Duchess of Sussex. “I didn’t like it,” he said. “I didn’t like the way she acted.”
Trump went on to say he felt Meghan had been “terribly disrespectful” toward Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles, referring to the couple’s decision to step away from their senior royal roles six years ago.
“I don’t know, maybe I’m different,” Trump said as he weighed in on the royal reunion. “I wouldn’t have taken them back,” he added, before repeating: “If I were the Royal Family, I would not have taken them back.”
Harry and Meghan pictured at the One805 Live Concert fundraising event in Santa Barbara in September 2023
Prince Harry, Prince Archie, Princess Lilibet and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, seen together in a family photo
Prince Harry and his then-fiancée, Meghan Markle, posing for photographers in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in 2017
Harry and Meghan told Charles last month that they would be moving back to Britain with their children, Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, who are slated to begin school there in the fall.
The Sussexes are now staying in the UK for an ‘extended period’ after flying into the country on August 26.
The family is said to be eyeing a home in the Cotswolds, an area that has gained prominence in recent years among wealthy Silicon Valley tech moguls and Hollywood elites – perhaps further endearing the area to Markle, a Golden State native.
While the couple appeared to be leading a quiet private life in Montecito, California, the pair had made no secret of their disillusionment with the current administration.
And with the November midterm elections fast approaching, concerns about the direction of the US have been top-of-mind, People first reported.
Their return to the UK was cheered by some in Trump’s orbit, who mocked the news following reports that the decision was motivated in part by their views of the current president.
Katie Miller, the wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, shared a report about their move on social media, noting: ‘They are moving back to Britain because they don’t like President Trump.’
Conservative personality Megyn Kelly also responded to their move and their decision to step down as senior members of the working family six year ago – a decision many dubbed ‘Megxit.’
‘We’ve done our time here in America my dear friend!’ Kelly said on X, replying to right-wing commentator Dan Wootton’s post about Megxit being ‘reversed.’
The family is not severing their California ties for good, however. They plan to keep their home in Montecito, as well as a separate vacation property they own in Portugal.
King Charles and Trump share a laugh at the White House state dinner in April 2026. The monarch filled his speech with jokes – including about the Boston Tea Party
The President and the First Lady toast King Charles at a state dinner at the White House
‘What is absolutely crucial is that Harry never fell out of love with Britain – he fell out of love with the circumstances he found himself living in, and those are very different things,’ Harry’s friend Alex Rayner, who went with him on a charity trek to the North Pole in 2012, and remains in regular contact with him, told Our News Outlet of their return.
Others spoke of ‘an increasing and significant shift in sentiment, a feeling the American dream might not be all it was cracked up to be.’
That sentiment does not appear to be one-sided, either. ‘This is coming from Meghan as well as from him,’ a friend told Our News Outlet. ‘I hear that Meghan is all for rekindling with and reconnecting with Harry’s English side. She is fully behind it.’
President Trump and King Charles indeed appear to share a warm relationship.
Their camaraderie was on full display in April, when Trump hosted Charles and Queen Camilla at the White House for the first state dinner of his second term – and to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday.
Trump previously said he and the late Queen Elizabeth II have an ‘incredible’ relationship
President Trump and King Charles share a joke before a state dinner in Washington, DC
Both Trump and the King made comments about their countries’ shared backstories, with Charles calling the fete a ‘very considerable improvement on the Boston Tea Party’.
The King also called attention to the President’s ‘readjustments’ to the East Wing, which is no longer standing.
‘I’m sorry to say that we British, of course, made our own small attempt at real estate redevelopment of the White House in 1814,’ the King joked.
