The Duke of Sussex looked at his camera and declared that he and his wife were on a “freedom flight” as they travelled to Los Angeles after stepping down as working members of the royal family.
The footage was included in Netflix’s 2022 ‘docuseries’ Harry & Meghan. But just two years later, could the couple soon be boarding another ‘freedom flight’, this time fleeing the US?
The possibility has emerged in light of Donald Trump’s potential return to the White House, with a royal source suggesting the Sussexes are now increasingly “desperate” to drum up support across the Atlantic.
On the day the Sussexes traveled to Los Angeles after stepping down as working royals, Prince Harry celebrated their emigration, calling it their “freedom flight”
Eric Trump called Prince Harry and Meghan ‘spoiled apples’ and repeated his father’s claims that the couple could be deported
During a visit to the Trump International Golf Links in Scotland earlier this week, the former president’s son Eric called the duke and duchess “spoiled apples” and repeated his father’s claims that Harry could be deported if the Republicans win. “You can have those two,” Eric added. “We may not want them anymore; it feels like they’re on their own island.”
Donald Trump has previously indicated that Harry, who has lived in the US since 2020, will not receive any “special privileges” and may even be deported if it turns out he provided false information on his visa form.
In the prince’s memoir, Spare, he revealed that he had used drugs in the past, including cocaine, cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms. Under US law, these substances would normally be grounds for a visa application to be rejected.
And there is a history between the Trumps and Meghan. When she was an actress, Meghan described Trump Snr as “divisive” and a “misogynist”. When she was living in Toronto while filming the legal drama Suits, in which she starred, she declared that she might stay in Canada rather than return to her home country with him as president.
Meanwhile, officials in the U.K. panic whenever the California-based royals are mentioned. But one person who worked for the royals when the couple were part of The Firm told me, “It seems clear to me that they are desperate to heal the rift.”
As evidence, the source points to a series of stories that recently appeared in People magazine, a favorite outlet of the Sussexes. They included an article about Harry’s despair that his father wasn’t answering his calls and another claiming that his rift with Prince William wasn’t “irreparable.”
The comments follow an interview Harry gave earlier this year in which he suggested the king’s cancer diagnosis might help them put aside their differences. Speaking after flying to London to visit his father, Harry told reporters: ‘I see it every day in all these families, the strength of the family unit coming together. I think every illness, every disease, brings families together.’
Prince Harry, who has lived in the US since 2020, lives in a nine-bedroom mansion in Montecito with his wife Meghan and their two children
Harry has, of course, argued that Britain is too dangerous a destination for his family, given that his automatic taxpayer-funded security was withdrawn by the government after he stepped back as a working royal and moved to the US. He is apparently keen to continue appealing the Supreme Court ruling in the case.
But despite all their pleas for free protection, the truth is that the Sussexes have made a fortune in the US, and it’s almost entirely thanks to their royal lineage.
Netflix, Spotify and the publisher of Harry’s bestselling memoir would never have considered shelling out millions if the couple hadn’t exploited their connections. But that tap has now been turned off, as evidenced by the king’s refusal to take his son’s phone calls.
Given their lavish lifestyles and increasingly uncertain income streams, it was no surprise that the Sussexes faced the future with some trepidation.
With a hostile new president on the way to his adopted homeland, Harry may just have to board that “freedom flight” home after all.
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