Estate agents may be disappointed to hear that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex appear to have abandoned their hunt for a country residence.
The couple, who returned to Britain from California at the end of August, were reportedly prepared to spend as much as £10million.
However, I can reveal that they have instead moved into a property belonging to a friend.
The Sussexes relocated the weekend before travelling abroad for the school half-term holiday with their children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five.
Since arriving in Britain, the family had been staying with the friend, a wealthy businessman based in the Cotswolds.
‘They were living in the main house,’ a friend of the businessman tells me. ‘They have now moved to a property on the estate.’
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex appear to have ended their search for a country home and moved into a friend’s property
The businessman became acquainted with Prince Harry through their shared support for military charities. He is reportedly content for Harry, Meghan and their children to remain on his estate.
After returning to Britain, the Sussexes kept their £19.5million mansion in Montecito, California. The property includes a wine cellar, cinema, gym, spa, swimming pool, tennis court, wood-fired stove, barbecue – and 13-and-a-half bathrooms.
In 2024, I revealed that the couple had purchased a coastal property in Portugal close to the home of Harry’s cousin, Princess Eugenie, and her husband, Jack Brooksbank. It is located at the CostaTerra Golf & Ocean Club, an exclusive development of 300 seaside properties in Melides, south of Lisbon.
The Sussexes were understood to be seeking a Cotswolds home with extensive grounds, no public rights of way and at least nine bedrooms.
£350million India has a truly frightful wedding!
Soho heiress India Rose James cut into a wedding cake trimmed with black ribbons during the candlelit reception at Oakley Court in Berkshire
India, whose fortune with her half-sister Fawn is estimated at more than £700million, celebrated her marriage to musician Daniel Vildosola on Halloween
This was a wedding guaranteed to give guests the creeps!
Soho heiress India Rose James marked her marriage to Mexican-American musician Daniel Vildosola, 40, on Halloween.
India, 34, the granddaughter of the late pornographer and property tycoon Paul Raymond, cut into a cake decorated with black ribbons during the candlelit reception at Oakley Court in Berkshire. The venue also portrayed Dr Frank-N-Furter’s castle in the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
India, whose fortune with her half-sister Fawn is estimated at more than £700million, wore an ivory dress featuring black ribbon bows to match the cake.
The couple had already held their first wedding ceremony in Las Vegas during the summer.
Adolescence star Ashley Walters began his career as a rapper with hip-hop group So Solid Crew, but these days he prefers gentler sounds. ‘My younger self would not imagine Ashley being a classical music or jazz fan,’ the 44-year-old actor says in a Big Issue feature titled Letter to my Younger Self.
‘But it comes with age – I just can’t listen to drill any more. I need music that helps me calm down and concentrate.’
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Olivia is positively Wilde about British men
Olivia Wilde, who previously dated Harry Styles, is now in a relationship with art dealer Caspar Jopling
Olivia Wilde is clearly fond of Britain – and that includes British men.
Having previously dated pop star Harry Styles, 32, the 42-year-old American actress and director is now in a relationship with art dealer Caspar Jopling, 34.
Jopling is the Eton-educated former husband of pop singer Ellie Goulding.
‘I’ll be spending more time in the UK,’ Olivia said during an In Conversation event at London’s BFI Southbank.
‘I’m on week three of a film we’re making here in London. It’s a Christmas comedy and I love it so much. I’m building the North Pole on a soundstage right now and it’s insane.’
Stella recalls the ‘weird’ experience of touring with Macca
For most teenagers, touring with a pop superstar would have been a fantasy. For Sir Paul McCartney’s daughter Stella, it was a different story.
‘I was kind of angry when I was 18 because I was building friendships and getting into the swing of my own thing,’ admits the 55-year-old fashion designer. ‘I was like: “What, really? We have to go on a world tour?”‘ Stella, whose mother Linda died in 1998, remembers the contrast between the family’s peaceful life on a Scottish farm and her parents’ extraordinary fame.
‘Mum was cooking, dad was shearing sheep and writing songs,’ she says. ‘And then we were on tour with, like, 200,000 people screaming at your parents… it was trippy and weird and surreal.’
She now describes travelling the world as ‘one of the biggest privileges’ of her upbringing, adding: ‘Everything that my mum and dad did came from a place of love.’
Lotus star raises a glass to drinking
The White Lotus star Sam Nivola has not been won over by Gen Z’s enthusiasm for clean living. He believes his generation could benefit from a few more nights out drinking.
The 23-year-old son of British actress Emily Mortimer and American actor Alessandro Nivola says he regrets that young people drink less than they once did. ‘It’s kind of terrible, honestly, that we don’t drink as much,’ he says. ‘We’ve gone soft.’
‘It’s tied in with the health movement. So much advertising and so many products in the world are focused on wellness.’
Sam, who is dating American actress Iris Apatow, 24, adds: ‘Drinking, of course, it’s terrible for you. It’s poisoning your body. But also, I think it’s worth poisoning yourself a little bit once a week to meet someone new and kiss that girl that you like.’
The actor also cautions that an intense focus on self-care can become ‘selfishness and narcissism’. He says: ‘Not everything revolves around you.’
Michael Douglas, who reveals in his new memoir that he had an affair with Kathleen Turner while filming Romancing The Stone, has a warning for the next generation. ‘A lot of actors make the mistake early in their career of having a relationship with their leading lady,’ he said at London’s Royal Festival Hall. ‘What they forget is that you can break up. They’re then expected to perform love scenes while hating each other. We’ve all made that mistake, and I try to warn people.’
Tom Cruise’s awkward backstage praise
Riz Ahmed, who stars alongside Tom Cruise in the comedy film Digger, found the actor’s constant cheerfulness rather unsettling.
‘Tom Cruise is so nice and positive and sweet that as a British person it’s very uncomfortable,’ admits the 43-year-old Londoner. ‘We were about to go on stage for the royal premiere and Tom turned around and said: “Riz, your mom – I love your mom, she’s fantastic. Beautiful, inside and out.”
‘I was like: “OK”.’
