Prince Harry has yet to bring his children to Balmoral, the Royal Family’s private Aberdeenshire retreat that he once called “simply paradise”.
But he has quietly introduced them to another secluded corner of Scotland: a remote island owned by a billionaire hedge fund founder.
The Daily Mail understands that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex travelled earlier this month with Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, to Tanera Mor.
The private island is reputed to have helped inspire The Wicker Man, the 1973 cult classic starring Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee and Britt Ekland.
Harry is believed to have visited Tanera Mor before. The island was purchased for £1.7 million in 2017 by Ian Wace, the 63-year-old billionaire co-founder of hedge fund powerhouse Marshall Wace.
At the time Wace acquired Tanera Mor, the largest of the Summer Isles, it was home to just five residents, with a scattering of crofters’ cottages in differing states of disrepair.
Since then, the 800-acre island has undergone a dramatic revival, with Wace investing £100 million to plant 100,000 trees, restore a dozen buildings and create three miles of roads.
He has also helped reintroduce traditional skills including beekeeping. For Harry, however, one of Tanera’s most compelling features may be its charitable connection: by last year, more than half of the 1,000 guests hosted on the island had come through the Taigh Mor Foundation.
Harry and Meghan, pictured on a previous holiday, visited the remote Scottish island of Tanera Mor with their children earlier this month
Pictured: Ian Wace with his partner Saffron Aldridge. The island was bought for £1.7million in 2017 by billionaire Wace, co-founder of hedge fund giant Marshall Wace
Harry is thought to have previously visited the island, which as since been transformed by Wace, who has poured £100million into it, planting 100,000 trees, restoring a dozen properties and laying three miles of roads
It’s a charity which strives to bolster the wellbeing of those serving in the armed forces or emergency services.
During their time on the isle, they restore buildings, harvest seaweed, fish for mackerel or work in the kitchens or gardens.
A noted philanthropist, Wace has been friendly with Harry and his brother, Prince William, for years.
Wace’s then wife, former model Saffron Aldridge, 57, bonded with Meghan, 44, after the US actress moved to Britain to live with Harry.
In 2019, the year after Meghan married the prince, Saffron and Wace joined the couple for a Cirque du Soleil performance at the Royal Albert Hall.
Meghan, it was reported at the time, appreciated that Saffron was ‘a straight talker’. The women’s mutual interest in fashion also helped.
Wace and Saffron split in 2023 and have since divorced but remain friends.
The Sussexes are believed to have travelled to Scotland from Northamptonshire, where they stayed with Earl and Countess Spencer at his ancestral home, Althorp.
While there, they laid flowers at the grave of Harry’s mother, Diana. During the family’s trip to Britain, they also had tea with Harry’s father, King Charles, and stepmother, Queen Camilla, at Highgrove in Gloucestershire.
A spokesman for the Duke and Duchess said: ‘This is not something we would comment on.’
A spokesman for Wace also declined to comment.
