Meghan flies back to Canada for Archie

Meghan Markle has caught a flight to Canada to reunite with her eight- month- old son Archie, leaving Prince Harry to negotiate their exit from royal life.

The couple spent six weeks in B.C. over the holidays before returning to Britain last Monday and publicly announcing they wanted step back from their royal duties. The baby was left in Vancouver in the care of his nanny and Meghan’s best friend, Jessica Mulroney, former prime minister Brian Mulroney’s daughter- in- law, according to the Daily Mail.

Buckingham Palace sources confirmed the duchess, 38, had only ever planned a stopover in the U.K. She is understood to have taken a flight back to a gated waterfront mansion on Vancouver Island on Thursday. With no return flight booked and no official U. K. engagements, she could remain in Canada for the foreseeable future.

The duke, meanwhile, is at home and determined to secure his family a “progressive new role” in the mould they decreed in the bombshell personal statement released on Wednesday. Harry, sixth in line to the throne, is heavily involved in the negotiations being thrashed out behind palace walls, as are all senior members of his team.

Aides suggested the duke had still not had the face-toface meeting with his father that he had asked for around Christmas. The duke is also keen to speak to his grandmother, the Queen. But with Charles at Birkhall, his Scottish residence, and the Queen at Sandringham in Norfolk, such family meetings are unlikely to take place in the coming days.

While royal sources have all but confirmed the pair will largely base themselves in Canada, it is not clear whether they intend to remain in British Columbia, move to Toronto, where the duchess lived for seven years while filming the U. S. TV drama Suits, or choose somewhere new. Former senior Scotland Yard officers have suggested that the couple will most likely have to contribute to the costs of their security if they pursue a lucrative private career.

At the moment, nearly all of their income is provided by Charles’s Duchy of Cornwall estate, although the cost of their security — estimated be hundreds of thousands of pounds a year — is currently covered by the government.

The Times newspaper said Charles might cut off their funding if they moved away from royal duties altogether.