Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, will not move to the 13,000-acre Althorp estate in Northamptonshire where Harry's mother Princess Diana grew up.
Instead, the couple are understood to have pinpointed a property in the Cotswolds as their UK home when they return to Britain in the coming days.
Earl Spencer, Harry's uncle and the younger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, was prepared to offer a house to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at Althorp, which has been the Spencer family home for over 500 years. However, the Sussexes did not make such a request during a weekend stay with their children at the estate last month.
Plans for UK return
A source close to the Earl denied speculation that a residential deal at Althorp had been agreed. "If Harry had asked his uncle for a property at Althorp, he would have done all he could to find him somewhere suitable," the source said. "But he has made his own plans."
Earl Spencer was reportedly unaware that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were on the brink of moving to the UK. The first he knew of his nephew's plans was last Thursday morning when the story broke in the newspapers.
"It was known that he wanted to come back but it was not known that it was imminent," the source added.
Family visit and photos
Prince Harry has remained close to Charles Spencer since he and Meghan decided in 2020 to step back from their roles as senior members of the royal family and relocate across the Atlantic.
The Duke has visited Althorp, Diana's childhood home and final resting place, several times in recent years. Last month, Harry and Meghan spent what has been described as a blissful few days at the estate with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Photographs shared by the Duchess on Instagram showed Prince Harry, Prince Archie, and Princess Lilibet walking down a tree-lined avenue on the estate. In one picture, the Duke and his seven-year-old son carried bouquets thought to have been laid at Diana's grave. In another photo, Harry playfully launched his daughter through the air at an estate pool while Meghan swam in the background.
The images fuelled widespread speculation that the family might settle on the estate. Royal biographer and former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown wrote last week: "It is widely thought that Charles Spencer will offer up a house at Althorp, which sits on 13,000 acres in Northamptonshire."
Cotswolds search and Spencer history
Sources indicated that the Sussexes could instead be moving to a home owned by a celebrity in the Cotswolds, a region in south-central England known for its rural villages and estate properties. Meghan may have visited two schools in the Cotswolds when Prince Harry attended an Invictus Games event in July, an international adaptive sporting competition he founded for wounded service personnel.
Althorp, the historic seat of Earl Spencer in Northamptonshire, has belonged to the Spencer family for over five centuries. Earl Spencer previously offered Diana the use of the 16th-century Wormleighton Manor in Warwickshire following the breakdown of her marriage with the then Prince Charles, though she declined the offer.
