As Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s move back to Europe draws nearer, Royal watchers are on pins and needles to figure out what they’ll do next. The couple is reportedly hoping to cause quite the stir by moving closer to the prince’s family, and they’re counting on one loyal ally to help speed things along.
Prince Harry’s favorite royal relative
It’s been frequently suggested that Princess Eugenie, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s youngest daughter, acts as a bridge between her cousin Harry and the rest of the Royal family. Ever since the prince severed ties with a move to the United States in 2020, the princess has been one of the few family members he has maintained a close relationship with.
In 2024, Harry even went as far as buying property in Portugal in the same luxury coastal “residential community” where Eugenie and her husband, British marketing executive Jack Brooksbank, have lived since 2022 — CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club in Melides. Now, according to royal insider Richard Fitzwilliams, the cousins are planning the Sussexes’ big comeback to Europe together.
The link with Eugenie is interesting, as she and Harry are quite close. They’ve seen quite a bit of each other, so there are a lot of question marks there. If the Sussexes decide to let us see Archie and Lili, we haven’t seen much of them, maybe with Eugenie and Jack and their family and so on, that will make a splash.”
The Portugal real estate purchase has always been seen by experts as strategic — a base of operations for when Harry and Meghan need to visit Europe, and maybe even the UK. Fitzwilliams says they “know what they’re doing” by choosing the ocean-side country as their holiday retreat.
The prince has been back to his homeland occasionally for legal matters, as he continues to press the Home Office to grant him a security detail for his visits. He claims the current dangers are the reason he hasn’t brought his family along, with Meghan and their children, Archie (5) and Lilibet (3), preferring to stay home in Montecito, California, instead.
King Charles III is said to have only met his 5-year-old grandson once, when the Sussexes traveled for the late Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, and has reportedly never met Lilibet. Princess Eugenie, who is believed to be the only royal to have visited Harry and Meghan in California since their move, could help change that scenario.
Eugenie and Jack have two children themselves, with ages similar to Archie and Lilibet. The princess also knew Meghan even before Harry introduced her to the family as his girlfriend, through a mutual friend, fashion designer Misha Nonoo. Those common circles, as well as Harry’s long-standing and close friendship with his cousin, are probably why he chose Eugenie and her then boyfriend to be the first people to meet Meghan.
According to his infamous memoir and the couple’s equally infamous Netflix docuseries, the foursome instantly got on, even letting loose at a costumed Halloween party the day before Harry and Meghan’s romance went public. Now, they’re bound to become even closer as the Sussexes move next door and kick off their efforts to mend fences with the rest of the family.
Published: Jan 27, 2025 01:07 pm