Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have expanded their property portfolio this week by reportedly buying a home in Portugal, just a few hours away from the duke’s home country of Britain.
While some royal fans may be raising their eyebrows at the purchase, with some hoping it could be the start of the couple’s gradual return to the UK, one royal expert believes quite the opposite could happen.
Although Harry returned to the country last month for an award ceremony in London, Meghan has not been back to the UK since the funeral of the late Queen in 2022.
Royal expert Richard Eden now believes she may never return. This house move was a strategic decision by the pair, who visited Portugal last year for a brief holiday not far from Princess Eugenie’s, 34, home.
In The Daily Mail, Eden said that the holiday home could be “a way of keeping a foothold in Europe without actually having to set foot in Britain” for the duchess, 43.
He wrote: “As I revealed in today’s Daily Mail, the Duke and Duchess have bought a property on the coast in Portugal. The purchase may have allowed the couple to acquire a so-called Golden Visa, under which they would have visa-free access to the European Union’s Schengen area.
“This could have been a major attraction to Meghan, who is a US citizen, where the property is concerned. When the couple got engaged in November 2017, Kensington Palace said Meghan would apply for British citizenship in due course, with a spokesman confirming that ‘she will go through the process [which] takes a number of years’.
“However, she eventually abandoned her bid to become a British citizen after she and her husband left the country in March 2020, less than two years after their wedding.
“Acquiring a Golden Visa would help Meghan as she and her husband develop their plans to become the ‘rival royals’ across the water, enabling them to travel easily through European countries.
“We have already seen them undertake ‘quasi royal’ tours of Nigeria and Colombia, with more overseas trips planned.
“And it may be that Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, who also own a Portuguese property, join their rival royal court.”
The speculation comes after rumours have been rife about the couple’s professional lives and whether Harry and Meghan are going their separate ways regarding their work.
The rumours began after Harry completed a solo tour without Meghan, who is believed to have stayed behind at the pair’s Montecito mansion with their two children, Archie, five, and Lilibet, three.