Prince Harry and Meghan Markle allegedly fled their Montecito home in August so abruptly that their children’s school was left in the dark on their move back to the UK.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex “just disappeared overnight,” Penny Bianchi, a resident of the wealthy California enclave, claimed to the Sunin comments published Friday.
The interior designer told the outlet that teachers at the school formerly attended by Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, were not informed of the whirlwind decision to enroll the children in an elite schoolin Harry’s home country.
“My grandchildren go to the same school and my son is an alumnus so I get all my gossip from there,” the 79-year-old said.
“I know Archie goes to the school and that they didn’t even know they were leaving until everyone else found out,” Bianchi alleged, adding that “They’ve been told, ‘Don’t hold a place for him as he’s not coming back any time soon.’”
Bianchi also claimed that the couple “were waiting a while for Archie to get into the school in England,” saying that it took “ages” for him to get accepted.
Page Six exclusively reported earlier this month that Archie and Lilibet will be attending a high-end prep school with a tuition cost of $35,000 per year.
Bianchi claimed that the “moment” Archie was accepted into the undisclosed school, “they practically left the next day.”
She added, “They just disappeared overnight.”
The Montecito resident claimed that the school the children previously attended “hated” the famous family’s bodyguards.
“They would drop the children off with them,” she told the outlet. “To be honest, nobody really liked them here very much. They aren’t popular.”
While sources close to Harry and Meghan said that the family didn’t inform the school for security reasons — and noted that bodyguards for school runsare commonplace among celebrity families — former Beach Boy Bruce Johnston labeled his former neighbor Harry a “jerk.”
“I’m sure that Harry has gone back to tell his brother he’s sorry for being a jerk,” he told the outlet during an outing in the Santa Barbara neighborhood.
“His father is not well and William is going to be King, so he needs to make amends,” he added, noting that “no one really knows why they left — apart from Oprah.”
“They were at her home all the time,” Johnston claimed. “I live opposite Oprah too.”
Johnston told the Sun that “in four years” he “saw them only once, in the back of their car.” While the singer admitted “they did look happy,” he also said the couple “kept themselves to themselves.”
“I was scared when I saw their bodyguards with guns, however, filling up their car with gas,” he claimed.
Meanwhile, residents also expressed concern for the koi carp in a garden pond on the grounds of their multi-million dollar mansion.
“There are lots of regulations when it comes to these fish,” a woman who runs a company in the area specializing in koi “maintenance” told the outlet, stating that if a pump goes out, “then within 12 hours they will die.”
The woman — who said the cost of properly caring for the koi is high — also noted that the fish need “the clearest water to survive” and must be fed once a day.
She noted that when a pump goes out, that’s when they’re called “to come round,” but added that “if there’s only the gardener checking once a day they could miss it.”
A source close to the couple told the outlet that they’d made arrangements for the fish and their care.
The woman, who asked not to be identified, said her company “dropped” Harry and Meghan as clients and expressed scorn for their decisions.
“Let’s just say we didn’t align,” she said. “You don’t air your dirty laundry in the open and go against your family.”
As for the house, the woman said “Everyone knows it’s vacant” and advised that the Sussexes rent out their house to prevent “bad things” from happening.
Another neighbor speculated that the high-profile couple may have left because “there was nothing left for them” in Montecito and claimed they “were never really part of the community” — despite being close to Oprah, whom the neighbor said is “always in Hawaii.”
A waitress claimed the couple once went into The Honor Bar and were asked to be put on a waiting list, but balked and “said they shouldn’t have to wait. Then they never came back.”
“They still got a to-go order though, picked up by staff under different names,” the waitress claimed.
As for the home, an employee from estate agent Village Properties named Kim said “There are a lot of whispers that the house will be going on the market.”
“People are calling us daily asking about it,” he said. “I can’t see why they wouldn’t sell it.”
But Montecito estate agent David Encell said he’d be “shocked” to see the home sold in a year, noting that “It’s a pretty expensive home to upkeep for a part-time place” given the costs of grounds and home maintenance.
Encell posited, “There are risks with renting out such an expensive place, and a lot of bad things can happen.”
While the agent said the couple could “try quietly at first, to test out how much they can get for” the home before putting it “out globally so it very well could end up on property websites to reach international buyers.”
“If they aren’t coming back they won’t care about privacy,” he added. While Encell called the residence a “beautiful house in paradise,” he suggested the couple could be “giving it a few months” in England “before making any decisions.”
He claimed that “Everyone was surprised when they moved, as this is a place people move to, not from.”
Encell said it’s possible Harry and Meghan “say it wasn’t for them and move back.”
Page Six has reached out to reps for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Harry and Meghan controversially quit their duties with the royal family in 2020 for a life in Montecito, where they’ve been raising their children.
The post How ‘unpopular’ Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ‘disappeared overnight’ from US appeared first on Page Six.
