How long before La La Land beckons?
Prince Harry and Meghan plan to live in the UK, but Karen Yossmann wonders if they’re secretly California dreaming
First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a lifetime of braving bleak British winters (and, frankly, summers) from behind the balustrades of windswept palaces – if you plan on pledging your troth to a member of the Royal family, that is. One can’t help but wonder whether Meghan Markle knows quite what she’s in for. Not the royal part, with all its pomp and scrutiny – as an actress used to the public gaze she’ll no doubt take that in her stride – but the living in Britain part.
Almost immediately following news of her engagement to Prince Harry came confirmation that the Los Angeles-born actress – who may have survived seven Canadian winters while filming Suits in
Toronto, but still refers to herself as a quintessential “California girl” and waxes lyrical about LA’S year-round “bikini season” – would be taking up British citizenship and moving into Harry’s pad in the grounds of Kensington Palace. The couple’s first public outing, today, is to Weekday Cross in Nottingham. It’s not exactly Laguna Beach.
If, as breathless fans have suggested, Harry and Meghan’s engagement is a modern fairy tale, it’s surely less Cinderella and more The Little Mermaid. After all, it was Ariel, not Cinders, who had to leave her idyllic home under the sea in order to marry a prince. Of course, living in a palace sounds great. And açai bowleating, green juice-sipping Meghan will feel right at home in Kensington, the home of Britain’s flagship Whole Foods supermarket, while she’ll find Pippa Middleton’s favourite yoga instructor just a hop and a skip away in Marylebone. But, let’s be honest: England’s pastures, pleasant as they are, can’t compete with California’s year-round sunshine, which is why more Brits than ever are making the move over to the Golden State. Could it be just a matter of time before the Prince and his showgirl follow suit? It’s been rumoured that Harry started property-hunting in LA’S upmarket Pacific Palisades neighbourhood last December (unsurprising, really – aren’t British winters the time when most of us daydream about upping sticks?) and had even settled on Reese Witherspoon’s £20 million mansion, where neighbours include Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. Traditionalists might baulk at the thought of the soonto-be sixth in line to the throne relocating to La La Land, but it’s easy to imagine Diana, Princess of Wales, being wholly supportive, if not downright encouraging, were she still here today. In fact, her former butler, Paul Burrell, claimed that before her death Diana had herself been eyeing up a property in Malibu that once belonged to Julie Andrews with the intention of moving there with her young sons.
If he does decide to go west, Harry will be the latest in a long line of toffs who’ve swapped grouse moors for the Hollywood Hills, lured by the impeccable weather, laissez-faire attitude and a sprinkling of Tinseltown glamour. Among those who can give Harry tips on LA living is his cousin, Lord Freddie Windsor, who spent seven years in the city with wife Sophie until they returned to Blighty last year. “We had a fascinating, fun time in LA,” Sophie said.
And no doubt Meghan would get along famously with Alice Bamford, whose father,
JCB chairman Lord Anthony Bamford, has been known to loan Prince Charles use of his helicopter, and who runs a biodynamic organic farm in Malibu where she entertains everyone from Orlando Bloom to the Kardashian sisters. Other society figures who have made the leap across the Atlantic include actress Suki Waterhouse, model Rosie Huntington-whiteley, and Lady Mary Charteris, who moved to LA last year to pursue a music career alongside husband Robbie Furze. For anyone who has visited California, it’s easy to see the appeal. There’s even a polo club in Santa Barbara, where Prince William played a match during his tour in 2011. (During the reception afterwards he joked that his younger brother was “as green as that grass outside” when he told him where he was going.) Just imagine: instead of Christmas Day walks through the Arctic tundra of Sandringham, where the Royals traditionally spend the festive period, Meghan could lead Harry on some of her favourite hikes through the sundappled Hollywood Hills. “LA is filled with the very best hiking trails,” she wrote on Natasha Corrett’s Honestly Healthy blog. And when the weather gets chillier, there is plenty to do indoors, too. Once thought to be a cultural wasteland, LA is now the destination for some of the top names in art, music and fashion. Contemporary art gallery Hauser and Wirth, where Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie is a director, opened an outpost in LA last spring, while British fashion staples including Burberry, Stella Mccartney and Mulberry have all hosted A-list events in the city. There’s also a branch of one of Harry and Meghan’s favourite haunts, Soho House, which offers unparalleled views of the city’s skyline (Soho House consultant Markus Anderson is said to have had a hand in setting up the couple’s first London dates).
LA even boasts its own castle, should Harry ever feel homesick – albeit one that is almost the same age as his grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh – built by publishing magnate William Hearst. And, of course, he’ll always be welcome at mother-in-law Doria Ragland’s cosy Los Angeles bungalow, located in a neighbourhood called, serendipitously, Windsor Hills.
Part of the fun of a long-distance relationship is exploring each other’s stomping grounds, but while Meghan has spent time in London, Harry has yet to be seen grabbing a kale shake on Santa Monica Boulevard. “I was born and raised in Los Angeles,” Meghan wrote on her former lifestyle site, The Tig. “A California girl who lives by the ethos that most things can be cured with either yoga, the beach, or a few avocados.” She would no doubt want to take Harry to best friend Heather Dorak’s Pilates studio in Hollywood, where “the energy is great” and the music “awesome”.
For soul-cleansing, the 36-year-old turns to Light Watkins, a verdic meditation teacher in Santa Monica who, she claims, “changed my life”. Meghan, who is fastidious about her skin, will also have to introduce Harry to the concept of facials. In fact, it was her visit to celebrity facialist Sarah Chapman in London last week that sparked engagement rumours. In Los Angeles, she is a long-time fan of Kate Somerville in West Hollywood, who also counts Paris Hilton and Jessica Alba among her clients.
Is it a step to far to suggest Harry, who once said that no one in his family actually wants the throne, is already California dreaming of his ’n’ hers facials by the beach?