Harry & Meghan’s secret Santa hideaway in Canada
‘They’ve barely set foot outside and are enjoying quality family time’
THE Duke and Duchess of Sussex are living in Canada on their sixweek break from royal duties, the Mail can reveal.
Harry and Meghan flew with their eight-month-old son Archie across the Atlantic last month to a secret address, where they have been keeping a low profile ever since.
The duchess’s mother, Doria, has been visiting from LA – and will be spending Christmas with the couple – as well as a number of friends. Meghan, 38, lived in Toronto for seven years while working as an actress on the legal drama Suits.
Her close-knit group of friends in the country included fashion stylist Jessica Mulroney, her television presenter husband Ben and their three children, who all had roles at the royal wedding.
Meghan is also spending a great deal of time with her closest male confidant,
Markus Anderson, of private members club group Soho House. Other friends from the US have been crossing the border to see them. Harry, 35, and his wife are understood to have felt they would have more chance of spending their time away from the UK undetected in Canada than in Meghan’s home country of America.
A friend said: ‘They have barely set foot outside the door and have been enjoying some quality family time together.’
Buckingham Palace had previously announced the Sussexes intended to take a six-week break from duties and would not spend Christmas at Sandringham with the Royal Family. In a November statement, an official said: ‘ The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are looking forward to extended family time towards the end of this month. Having spent the last two Christmases at Sandringham, their royal highnesses will spend the holiday this year, as a new family, with the duchess’s mother Doria.
‘This decision is in line with precedent set previously by other members of the Royal Family and has the support of Her Majesty The Queen.’
Palace sources said at the time it was likely that they would be spending time in the US. But the Mail understands the family later decided to stay in Canada and will remain there until the New Year. A spokesman for the couple told the Mail yesterday that they would not discuss their ‘private travel plans’.
The couple have not been seen in public together since Remembrance Sunday, although Meghan has been posting regularly on the couple’s Instagram account. They may not return to the UK until as late as early January in order to launch their new charitable foundation after splitting from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Friends say the couple hope to return ‘re-energised’ after what has been a busy and emotional 2019. It saw the couple acrimoniously split their official household and charitable activities from that of William and Kate, moving their office to Buckingham Palace and their home to Frogmore Cottage at Windsor.
They also celebrated the birth of their first child Archie in May and undertook an official tour to South Africa.
The duke and duchess are said to feel ‘ bruised’ after finding themselves the subject of public criticism over their use of private jets and ‘ excessive’ demands for secrecy.
They have also launched legal action over what they perceive to be unfair treatment at the hands of the media.