Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are planning to move back to the UK this month, the ABC understands.

Harry, the younger son of King Charles, and his wife intend to relocate from the US to a private, non-royal residence outside London, the BBC reported.

The couple's children, Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, are also expected to start at a British school in September.

British media first reported the news, but spokespeople for ⁠Harry and Meghan had no immediate ‌comment. However, a source close to the couple confirmed the report's accuracy.

King Charles was told of the move on Sunday, local time, and it is understood he welcomed the move.

Earlier in July, the family met with King Charles in what was widely seen as a thawing of frosty relations.

It was the first time in four years that the couple's seven-year-old son and five-year-old daughter had visited the UK, with Buckingham Palace describing the meeting as a "private family occasion".

Prince Harry and Meghan had not been in the UK together since 2022, when they attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

But even the run-up to the July trip was rocked by setbacks, with media outlets quoting sources close to Harry as saying the prince would be staying at Buckingham Palace in London — only for the palace to deny it.

The palace said Harry had not accepted the invitation to stay at the official residence of the British sovereign sufficiently far in advance.

It has been six years since Harry and Meghan stepped down from their royal duties.

There are no public plans for either to resume those roles.

Buckingham Palace revealed in February 2024 that King Charles was undergoing treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer.

He is still receiving treatment but said last December an early diagnosis and effective intervention meant this could be scaled back.

The Harry and Meghan news coincides with a release from Queen Camilla, who spoke publicly for the first time about how hard it was to keep the king's cancer diagnosis private at first.

Dazzling wedding to strained relations

Harry married Meghan Markle in a dazzling ceremony at Windsor Castle in 2018, and it was hoped his union with the former actress, whose mother is Black, would reinvigorate the historic institution.

But it was not long before cracks in their relationship with the rest of the royal family began to emerge.

After stepping away from royal duties, they moved to the wealthy seaside enclave of Montecito near Santa Barbara, California, with media reports putting the 2020 purchase price of their 16-bedroom home at $ US14.7 million ($20.6m).

In the following years, Harry, now 41, and Meghan, 45, repeatedly criticised the royal family and the monarchy in TV interviews, a Netflix documentary series and most notably in Harry's memoir Spare.

During a 2021 interview the couple gave to Oprah Winfrey, Meghan said an unnamed member of the family had asked how dark their son Archie's skin might be. Heir-to-the-throne Prince William, Harry's elder brother, responded by denying that Britain's royals were racist.

Harry had some particularly barbed comments for his father, King Charles, and Prince William, leading to a total breakdown in their relationship.

Harry was also angry the British government changed his security arrangements and said the lack of automatic police protection meant he was unable to bring his children to Britain.

Harry has long blamed the media for the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997 while trying to shake off the paparazzi.

While Harry and the king's relationship may have improved, he is still barely on speaking terms with his brother, Prince William.

Californian success not as expected 

Harry and Meghan had embarked on several media ventures from their home just north of Hollywood, signing multi-million-dollar deals with Spotify for a podcast series and with Netflix for programming including a lifestyle show hosted by Meghan, a former actor.

The projects produced mixed results. 

Harry's tell-all book was a bestseller but their podcast deal ended and Meghan's Netflix show was not renewed for a third season.

"I think they didn't achieve the superstar status they wanted," said Dominic Patten, executive editor of Hollywood publication Deadline.

They did, however, keep the public interested in their story in a town full of big-name celebrities, he said.

"He and Meghan have kept that flame aflutter," Mr Patten added. 

"If you look at how quickly Hollywood careers can burn out, on that level, by that metric, they've been successful."

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