Prince Harry to become main stay-at-home parent after UK move as Meghan Markle travels for work, source says

Prince Harry is preparing to take on the role of his family’s main stay-at-home parent following his return to Britain with Meghan Markle and their two children, a source tells Wonderwall.com.

The Duke of Sussex is expected to spend most of the school year in the U.K. with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet while the Duchess of Sussex regularly travels back to California for work.

The couple arrived in Britain on August 26 — a week after reports emerged that they were relocating to Harry’s homeland for an extended period and planned to establish a private, non-royal home there as their children start school in September.

“Harry expects to spend the overwhelming majority of term time in Britain because he wants to be a hands-on father and provide the children with the stability of having a parent consistently at home,” says the source.

Meghan, meanwhile, is expected to make regular trips to the U.S., where much of her professional life remains based. “Her business interests, production work and wider commercial ambitions require her to maintain a genuine presence there rather than trying to manage everything remotely from Britain,” the source says.

Before leaving California, the family spent their final weekend with close friends and Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland. “It wasn’t a goodbye forever,” a source told People. “It was much more, ‘We’ll be back, but this is what we’re doing right now.’”

Harry recently described himself as a “full-time dad” during an appearance on former rugby star Joe Marler‘s podcast.

His return to his homeland will also allow him to devote more time to his charitable work in the U.K. He’s due at the WellChild Awards in September, for example, and is preparing for the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham, England.

The family’s new routine will reportedly revolve around Archie and Lili’s schedule in many ways.

According to the source, the couple is “looking carefully at the school calendar and identifying periods when Meghan can spend concentrated stretches working in California before returning to Britain. School vacations will obviously provide more flexibility, and there will also be occasions when the whole family can spend extended periods together in Montecito.”

The Sussexes are keeping their California home and will reportedly spend Christmas there rather than at the king’s Sandringham estate with the wider royal family. School vacations could also include time at another home they own in Portugal.

Meghan’s professional life is entering a potentially busy new chapter. People reported on August 31 that she and Harry had been discussing a possible return to acting for some time before she entered talks to join the third season of Guy Ritchie‘s Netflix series The Gentlemen.

The potential role would be Meghan’s biggest acting project since she left Suits ahead of her 2018 wedding to Harry. It could also fit conveniently with the family’s new living arrangements as the show shoots in Britain.

Yet whether Meghan will actually join the cast remains unclear. On August 22, journalist and Princess Diana biographer Tina Brown reported in her Substack column that she’d heard Meghan’s casting had been withdrawn because “the backlash in the U.K. was so intense, it became untenable to go forward.” People, however, reported that Meghan remains in talks for the series.

Netflix has not announced Meghan’s involvement. When the streamer’s U.K. scripted chief Manda Levin was asked about the casting speculation at the Edinburgh TV Festival on August 26, she offered a cryptic response, saying only, “All bets are off.”

Meghan has already dipped her toe back into acting. In November 2025, she filmed a cameo as herself in the upcoming rom-com Close Personal Friends, which stars Lily Collins and Jack Quaid.

Beyond acting, the duchess continues to run her As Ever lifestyle brand, while she and Harry maintain their production business, Archewell Productions.

The couple also extended their relationship with Netflix in 2025 with a multiyear, first-look deal with projects including some book-to-film adaptations in the pipeline.

“She fully accepts that this means regularly crossing the Atlantic once the family is established in Britain,” the insider claimed. “The challenge is making sure those professional demands do not disrupt Archie and Lilibet’s new routine or undermine the stability they are trying to create for them.”

Harry’s move back to Britain also appears to have had support from his father.

A friend of King Charles III told The Daily Beast that Harry was “informally encouraged by King Charles to return to the U.K. because the king believes that the royal family is stronger united.”

The friend added, “The king’s faith has played a part, but ultimately this is a strategic decision for the good of the family. The stand-off needed to be resolved.”

Another source, described by The Daily Beast as a friend of other royals, said Charles’ position was clear from the palace’s response to the Sussexes’ return.

“If the king didn’t want Harry and Meghan here, they wouldn’t be here,” the source said. The source added that Charles “clearly wants them to be happy and settle here” and called the move “a huge opportunity for Harry and Meghan to start again.”