Prince Harry is looking to buy a “secluded Georgian house” in the UK, close to King Charles’s Highgrove estate, according to a royal commentator.
The Duke of Sussex has been house hunting in his home country for several months now but his efforts have not been fruitful, as the move was dubbed much more complex than the royal had initially thought.
Royal author Tom Quinn claimed Harry is faced with a “huge problem” as he has no base in the UK, after having been evicted from Frogmore Cottage last year, following the release of his bombshell memoir, Spare.
He told the Mirror: “Harry has spent a lot of time trying to work out what sort of UK base he might have.
“He has no experience of living in anything other than well-protected houses that are also well away from the public, so he has a huge problem. Every house he looks at has drawbacks.”
He added that the prince is hoping to “the kind of property his father has with Highgrove”, saying: “With no chance of returning to any of the houses in the gift of his family, Harry has looked at buying the kind of secluded Georgian house in its own grounds that his father has at Highgrove in Gloucestershire.”
Mr Quinn stressed that the duke will struggle to find anything similar that matches the level of privacy Frogmore offered him and his family, while also branding him “naive” for quitting the royal life.
He explained: “Apart from the security risks Harry has become increasingly obsessed with his privacy and wants to be well away from prying eyes – that was the key reason he was so upset and angry when his father King Charles evicted him from Frogmore Cottage.
“Frogmore is actually a substantial house deep in the grounds of the royal estate at Windsor – it’s also very secure and it would have been perfect.
“It never occurred to Harry that giving up being a working royal meant giving up the house, but then Harry has always been nothing if not naïve.”
But the author added that while security may be a big issue when it comes to Harry’s return to the UK, the benefits of doing so for his children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet could outweight the negatives.
He said: “The idea of buying a house close to his father means he will be able to come to the UK for short periods with his children so they can have some kind of a relationship with their cousins and their grandfather”.
It comes amid reports that King Charles wants to spend more time with his US-based grandchildren, who have not seen their grandfather properly in monts, if not years.