HARRY’S SECRET ESCAPE PLAN
Just days after arriving in the US, a royal insider suggests that Prince Harry could already be contemplating a move back to his UK homeland.
Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan Markle, 38, recently made the abrupt move to Los Angeles after spending months at a lavish bolthole on Vancouver Island, Canada.
Reports suggest the pair always planned to move to Los Angeles in their post-royal life, but that those plans were expedited on account of the borders closing between the US and Canada following the COVID-19 outbreak.
Harry, Meghan and 10-month-old baby Archie are now believed to be living in lockdown in LA. But as the coronavirus outbreak also hits Harry’s home country – even affecting his close family members – the royal insider says the prince is distraught about not being there.
“Harry is going through turmoil at the moment and worried sick about his family back in the UK,” an insider tells New Idea.
“If he could turn back time and resume the life he and Meghan left behind, he would do that tomorrow morning without hesitation,” the insider adds. “Unfortunately though, he’s made his bed and has to lie in it for now, so he has little option but to sit back and watch the nightmare unfold from 6000 miles away.”
The insider reveals that learning his father, Prince Charles, had tested positive to coronavirus only further cemented his deep-seated feelings of “regret and guilt”.
“The news about Charles’ ill health has hit Harry very hard,” the insider says. “[He] wishes he could be there – even in a non-royal capacity – but of course he can’t given the fact he’s stuck in Los Angeles with Meghan and Archie. He’s been climbing the walls and pacing around constantly, brainstorming ways he can get back to England and help.”
And according to reports, Harry’s exit plan might already be in the works – and he’s even secured a new UK bachelor pad.
New Idea has seen exclusive property photos and plans for a luxury countryside estate, which is reportedly being built for the former senior royals.
The plans reveal that a run-down farm in the exclusive Cotswolds area is being transformed into an ubertrendy farmhouse and barn, complete with three bedrooms, guest quarters, gym, art gallery and a yoga studio.
There’s even some friendly faces in the neighbourhood with Harry’s long-time pals David and Victoria Beckham living down the road.
The source says the pad affords Harry the chance to keep his options open for a potential homecoming.
“These past few weeks have brought it home to Harry that he needs a backup plan, in case things don’t work out in America with Meghan and he needs to reinvent himself on his own. That’s why he’s purchasing a place in the
Cotswolds,” the royal insider reveals. “At the very least, it will give him a base for when he goes back to England to see friends and family – with or without Meghan.” The location of the cottage is close to his family in London, with the insider noting it’s also isolated enough “where he won’t be hassled or stalked by paparazzi”.
“But at the end of the day the main attraction is that he now has somewhere to fall back on if he decides to give up on this highly stressful new life he’s dealing with in America.”