The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have bought a new home in Santa Barbara and have relocated there. Santa Barbara, is an affluent seaside city outside Los Angeles. The couple who stepped down from royal duties this year was formerly staying in Meghan’s hometown in Los Angeles. In LA they were involved in a legal battle with paparazzi over photos taken of their son Archie. An insider told AFP that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle “moved into their family home in July of this year” and have “settled into the quiet privacy of their community,“.
The exact location is unclear. The insider added that they “hope that this will be respected by their neighbors, as well as for them as a family.” People and Page Six reported that the royal couple’s new residential area is also home to the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres.
“This is where they want to bring Archie up, where they hope he can have as normal a life as possible,“ an anonymous insider told Page Six. The insider added: “Harry and Meghan never intended to make Los Angeles their home.” Last month the Sussexes filed a lawsuit in LA against paparazzi whom they accuse of photographing Archie without permission.
“The couple recently learned that someone is shopping photographs of their 14-month-old son, Archie, falsely claiming to have taken them on a ‘recent’ public outing ‘in Malibu,‘” the complaint, filed for invasion of privacy, said.
It said that the photos were taken during “activities in the backyard of the residence, unbeknownst” to the couple. At that time, Harry and Meghan were reportedly living at the LA home of media tycoon Tyler Perry.
Harry and Meghan moved to California via Canada after announcing in January that they intended to quit royal life and “work to become financially independent.”
The duo have spoken of their desire to “to do something of meaning, to do something that matters,“ in California, where they plan to launch a wide-ranging non-profit organization named Archewell. In April, they worked with a charity to hand out meals to chronically ill people in Los Angeles during the coronavirus lockdown.
The couple is “intent on being of service” and seeing their new home “through the lens of philanthropy,“ Richard Ayoub, the charity’s CEO, told AFP at the time.