‘Soaking in the last of summer in the garden’ is, as Instagram captions go, pretty standard fare – but for the Duchess of Sussex it may well carry an extra degree of poignancy.
The image posted to the account of her lifestyle brand As Ever – showing Meghan in a white T-shirt, matching skirt and oversized sunhat – appears to have been taken at the Montecito mansion she and Harry have called home for the last six years.
It could well be the last time we see it for some time.
The Sussexes – Harry, Meghan, seven-year-old Archie and five-year-old Lilibet – are now staying in the UK for an ‘extended period’ after flying in on August 26.
Archie and Lilibet have been enrolled in an undisclosed school and the family are said to be living in the picture-perfect Cotswolds, an area proving increasingly attractive to tech bros and liberal Hollywood celebrities fleeing Donald Trump‘s presidency.
Reports suggest the Duke and Duchess spent time with friends and Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland during their last weekend in California before their surprise return to Britain last week.
Sources told People magazine – a publication sympathetic to the Sussexes – that the final Stateside gatherings were not ‘a goodbye forever’.
‘It was much more, “We’ll be back, but this is what we’re doing right now,’ the source added, noting that Archie and Lilibet had been given time to see their own friends too.
‘They’ve been planning this for some time, and they feel it’s the right thing for their family, but that doesn’t mean leaving was easy.
‘Meghan really loves their life in Montecito and their home there. They know it’s going to take a little bit of time for everyone to settle in and adjust.’
Meghan’s As Ever brand shared this shot of the Duchess picking fruit in what may have been her Montecito garden
The image was shared on Saturday, three days after the Sussexes touched down in Britain on a private jet (pictured)
The family – including young Archie and Lilibet – are thought to have moved to the Cotswolds, where the children have been enrolled in school
The As Ever shot was shared on Saturday, three days after the Sussexes touched down at Birmingham Airport.
It shows Meghan in what fans have identified as a £100 Anine Bing cashmere t-shirt, a £292 Heidi Merrick skirt and a £130 Sarah Bray Bermuda sunhat.
And while the location was unspecified, there are hints that the snap represents Meghan’s temporary farewell to the Californian lifestyle that the brand represents.
She can be seen appearing to forage from the garden, with a large basket in her hand to collect her finds.
The basket of multicoloured eggs positioned in the foreground is unlikely to be an accident, amidst reports that her prized flock of chickens is staying in Montecito.
Meghan had posted an image of a novelty tea towel last week that read: ‘People who take care of chickens are literally chicken tenders.’
While the birds are staying behind, the Sussexes’ pet dogs, black Labrador retriever Pula and beagle Mia, are joining the family in Britain.
Their arrival comes amidst fervent speculation over Meghan’s rumoured return to acting after stepping away to focus on Royal life.
Conflicting reports say she may or may not have a role lined up for the third series of Netflix’s The Gentlemen, the high-octane gangster drama spin-off of Guy Ritchie’s 2019 film.
Asked about the rumours at the Edinburgh TV Festival last week, Netflix’s UK head of scripted series Manda Levin would only say: ‘All bets are off’.
The Sussexes have also returned to Britain despite Harry’s vow that he would not bring his family to the UK without the same royal-level security that he enjoyed as a working Royal, which was removed following ‘Megxit’ in 2020.
He lost a legal challenge to the downgrade last year against the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (Ravec), which makes decisions on the level of protection afforded to key public figures.
The committee is made up of representatives of the Home Office, the Metropolitan Police and the Royal Household, including the monarch’s private secretary.
Following the conclusion of the case, Harry had told the BBC: ‘I can’t see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK at this point.’
Harry and Meghan’s plane was met on the tarmac by a private security convoy – after the Duke failed in a legal challenge over his security arrangements
Harry and Meghan are thought to be in the back of this Mercedes minivan leaving Birmingham Airport – with Harry’s close confidante David Langdown riding shotgun
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Despite this, the Sussexes were met by a private security convoy at Birmingham Airport last week, among them Harry’s close friend and security adviser David Langdown.
But the move will have arguably carried some risk in the Duke’s eyes. Unlike taxpayer-funded royal protection officers, Harry’s private security team in the UK is not permitted to carry firearms.
A source close to him told the Sunday Times: ‘His security team cannot even carry a cricket bat as a means of defence – all they’d have is angry rhetoric and their physical strength if someone attacked him or his family.
‘With his return home, the game has changed: the first duty of a government is to protect its citizens and that includes Harry, his wife and his children.
‘It’s not about the role he has here – it’s about the risk he and his family face, and he cannot simply stop being the son of the King.’
Harry reportedly gave Ravec less than half the standard amount of notice for his family’s return to Britain amid fears the news would leak.
Since 2020 – when his entitlement to automatic, taxpayer-funded UK police protection ended – Harry has been expected to give Ravec 28 days’ notice of any plans to visit home so arrangements can be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
But the Telegraph reported that Harry’s father King Charles was said to have learned of the Sussexes’ return just 10 days prior to touchdown.
A source told the paper: ‘An obvious off-ramp exists for the committee to do the sensible thing: protect the King’s son and grandchildren.’
Ravec has reportedly prepared a fresh risk assessment on the Sussexes, the results of which are yet to be disclosed to Harry.
He is said to have written to the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood seeking a personal intervention in his family’s case, after learning that Ravec allegedly failed to inform him of an Al-Qaeda assassination plot in 2023.
Andy Burnham, asked last week about the Duke’s security measures, said it was a ‘private matter’. A YouGov poll found that 71 per cent of British adults believe the Sussexes should foot the bill themselves.
A Government spokesperson told the Mail today: ‘The UK Government’s protective security system is rigorous and proportionate.
‘It is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on those arrangements, as doing so could compromise their integrity and affect individuals’ security.’
Representatives for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were contacted for comment.
