Prince Harry, 41, is happily settled in sunny Montecito with his wife, Meghan Markle and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, but before he met his soul mate, he considered a move off the grid. In the Duke of Sussex's memoir, Spare, he revealed that he had thoughts of escaping to an island in the Arctic Ocean in 2011, just weeks before his brother Prince William's wedding. "Maybe I'll move here. Maybe this is my purpose," he penned in the book. Read on to discover what changed his mind…
Harry wrote: "My plane landed on an archipelago called Svalbard. March 2011. Stepping off the plane I did a slow turn, taking it all in. White, white, and more white. As far as the eye could see, nothing but ivory, snowy whiteness. White mountains, white snowdrifts, white hills, and threaded through it were narrow white roads, and not many of those. Most of the two thousand local residents had a snowmobile, not a car. The landscape was so minimalist, so spare, I thought: Maybe I’ll move here. Maybe this is my purpose. Then I found out about the local law forbidding anyone to leave town without a gun, because the hills beyond were patrolled by desperately hungry polar bears, and I thought: Maybe not."
© Photo: Getty ImagesMeeting Meghan didn't suppress Harry's desire to get away from it all; in fact, they even considered going to Africa together. And it was a plan that was even signed off on by Harry's grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II. He and Meghan were trying to figure out how to remain working royals but live somewhere else for part of the year, and Cape Town was on the agenda.
© WireImageHarry thought back to their proposed plans in his book. "Brief as it was, that taste of freedom had got us thinking. What if life could be like that...all the time? What if we could spend at least part of each year somewhere far away, still doing work for the Queen, but beyond the reach of the press? Free. Free from the British press, free from the drama, free from the lies. But also free from the supposed 'public interest' that was used to justify the frenzied coverage of us.
"The question was...where? We talked about New Zealand. We talked about South Africa. Half the year in Cape Town, maybe? That could work. Away from the drama, but closer to my conservation work – and to eighteen other Commonwealth countries. I’d run the idea by Granny once before. She’d even signed off on it."
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© NetflixInstead of Africa, the Sussexes have ended up stateside where they have built a beautiful life on a sprawling estate. The property is what dreams are made of with acres of space, a private playpark, outdoor pool, flower gardens and an underground games room. Where they live is an A-list hotspot where the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Jennifer Aniston also reside. We love seeing glimpses into their wholesome life via Meghan's Instagram feed and their Netflix appearances.
© GettyOver on The HELLO! Royal Club, HELLO!'s royal editor Emily Nash has addressed recent rumours of a rift between King Charles and his heir, Prince William. Emily spoke to royal insiders to get to the truth of the matter, and you can find out what they said by clicking the button below and joining HELLO!'s biggest royal fans in the biggest royal community online.
