Back in August, Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry surprised the world when they announced that they would be moving back to the United Kingdom for an extended period of time, bringing along their two children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, with them. The decision came over six years after the couple stepped away from their senior positions as royals and subsequently moved their family to Montecito, California. And while their intentions for returning to the U.K. had been unclear up until this point, the Duke of Sussex finally opened up about the move in a new interview released yesterday afternoon.
“Being able to put the kids in a British school has meant a lot to me,” Prince Harry told GQ in a video that was filmed during his visit to New York City this past September. “I didn’t know how important it was to me.”
On October 15, the pair made their first joint outing since moving back to the U.K.
The Duke of Sussex chalked his family’s move up more generally to “opportunities for the family.” He said: “I always thought it was gonna be something that I would try and do or that we would try and do, but now, [the kids have] been in school for two weeks. They’re loving it, and it’s just giving them a whole different experience.”
He was quick to note that this decision isn’t an indictment on American education. “Don’t worry, I’m not criticizing American schools,” he said. “But I think for kids at 7 and 5 to be able to have that comparison and to have two completely different cultural experiences is so important today.”
Furthermore, the Spare author added that he was motivated to be nearer to his relatives (after years of rifts between him and his father, King Charles III, and between him and his brother, Prince William). Harry noted that he wanted to be “closer to [his] family and to be back on U.K. soil for longer than a few days or a week here or there.”
“I think that having been [in the U.S.] for six years now and only being able to go back to the U.K. for short periods of time, to actually have my whole family there with me, the place that I grew up, wanting to be able to show my kids where I grew up and have them have the experiences to some extent that I had—the good rather than necessarily the bad—provided real, proper, serious thinking as to, ‘This is an opportunity, let’s do it now,’” he said.
Meghan and Harry moved back to the U.K. with their kids this past August.
Harry also noted that he and Meghan didn’t plan the move too far ahead of time, but rather it was something they had “thought about and considered,” and in this instance, they saw “certain stars align.”
“It’s been nice to be close to friends, family, and their children as well, to be able to have endless playdates to really, like, help our kids settle in.”
And while the couple has publicly had a very contentious (and litigious) relationship with the British media, Harry hopes that things will be different this time around.
“I am optimistic. I’m hopeful,” he said. “I’m not naive. I have been naive in the past. But I think it’s important to remain optimistic. And I think a large part of this is about respect as well. And I can respect them if they respect me and our position. Our position is really quite clear now, and hopefully we can get on with life.”