Something to smile about.
In photos obtained by Page Six, Prince Harry grinned ear to ear at a roundtable event for veterans in Washington Wednesday, the same day news broke that he and wife Meghan Markle will be moving back to the UK six years after stepping back from the royal family.
In photos from the event, the “Spare” author was beaming as he greeted guests and spoke at the podium — which notably had a little Union Jack, the UK national flag, in front of the mic.
Harry famously served 10 years in the British Army, rising to the rank of captain and completing two deployments to Afghanistan. He served from 2005 to 2015.
The 41-year-old royal has long made supporting military personnel and veterans a focus of his charitable work, founding the Invictus Games in 2014.
The international multi-sport event that brings together wounded, injured and sick military service members and veterans to compete in adaptive sports.
It’s unclear what time the event took place, but it coincided with the news of him and Markle, 45, pulling a reverse “Megxit” — returning to Britain six years after famously moving to Montecito, California.
Page Six confirmed Wednesday that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will return to the UK at the end of the month for an “extended period” with their children: Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5.
“The palace was made aware of the move,” a source confirmed to Page Six Wednesday, noting that King Charles III was only just informed of their decision Sunday.
“I know that Charles is the reason they are moving back,” an insider told Page Six.
Here’s the latest on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s shocking move back to the U.K. after 6 years in the U.S.
- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s UK move is ‘huge slap in the face’ to William, creates ‘serious risks’ for monarchy
- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s UK return is ‘an admission of failure,’ proves they ‘need the monarchy’
- Meghan Markle once moaned she had a ‘problem’ with her and Prince Harry’s kids going to school in UK
- Prince Harry said he could never ‘see a world’ where he moved back to the UK a year before bombshell news
King Charles announced he was diagnosed with cancer back in February 2024.
The monarch, 77, told a cancer survivor he was “feeling a lot better” in July 2025 and, in December 2025, he shared another positive health update. While Buckingham Palace said he technically wasn’t considered “in remission” at the time, it noted he’d “responded exceptionally well to treatment.”
Our source added that while Charles, 77, “looks forward” to spending more time with the Sussexes in a personal capacity, he made it clear that their role and status as private individuals and “non-working members” of the royal family will not change.
Harry and Markle will move into “a non-royal residence” and “continue with their business enterprises,” per the Sun, which was the first to report the news of their UK return.
The couple shocked the world in January 2020 when they announced they were taking a step back from their duties as “senior” members of the royal family and moving to the US.
“After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution,” they said in a statement at the time.
They added that they would “balance [their] time between the United Kingdom and North America” while “continuing to honour [their] duty” to the royal family.”
A rift between the Sussexes and the rest of the royal family began to widen in the years since they left — with both taking part in a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 and Harry writing his bombshell 2023 memoir, “Spare.”
Harry and Markle reunited with Charles in July, seeming to indicate their relationship with him was on the mend, during their European vacation with Archie and Lilibet.
However, we’re told that there was no interaction with Prince William and wife Kate Middleton at the time and that their relationship with them is still “so broken.”
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