Six years after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle packed up their royal life and headed for North America, the Sussexes are coming back – apparently.

But perhaps the bigger question isn’t whether they’re returning to Britain. It’s what’s changed?

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expected to relocate from California later this month, with Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, reportedly enrolled to start at a British school in September.

They’ll live in a private, non-royal residence outside London and remain non-working members of the royal family. Their sprawling Montecito home isn’t necessarily being abandoned either, with reports suggesting the couple will maintain a base in California.

On paper, that’s a very different arrangement from the royal life Harry and Meghan walked away from in 2020.

But it also raises some fairly obvious questions.

Chief among them: What happened to the security problem that Harry has spent years fighting over? And why now?

The security question

Harry’s battle over protection in Britain has been one of the biggest obstacles to bringing his family back.

After stepping down as a working royal, he lost the automatic taxpayer-funded police protection he once received and has repeatedly challenged the way decisions about his security are made.

The issue isn’t merely theoretical. A 40-page risk assessment by his private security company reportedly found Harry faced an “elevated risk” in Britain, while his lawyers have argued that private security cannot provide the same level of protection as police.

As recently as July, Meghan and the children stayed away from Britain during Harry’s visit for the Invictus Games countdown amid another dispute over security arrangements, according to a BBC report.

Now the entire family is preparing to return for an extended period – with Archie and Lilibet attending school as well.

Security detail has been one of Prince Harry’s key gripes for the past few years.

So what has changed?

Not much publicly, at least.

The Home Office has responded to news of the move by saying Britain’s protective security system is “rigorous and proportionate”, while declining to discuss individual arrangements.

Decisions involving members of the royal family and other high-profile figures are made by Britain’s Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec). It includes representatives from the Home Office, the Metropolitan Police and the royal household.

Harry’s protection has previously been considered on a case-by-case basis when he gives sufficient notice of a visit.

Whether an extended stay – and two children attending school every day – changes that equation remains unclear.

So, why make the move now?

Other than Harry suddenly becoming homesick, one plausible explanation for the return is his father, the King.

The relationship between father and son appears to have thawed, particularly after Harry, Meghan and the children met the King and Queen at Highgrove on a family visit in July.

Sources close to the Duke said Harry was “buoyed” by the reunion, while the King, who has been having cancer treatment since 2024, is understood to welcome the opportunity to see more of the Sussexes in a private capacity. The improving relationship may help explain the timing of the move.

Could Prince Harry and the King be about to reconcile?

The return could also set the scene for something that would have seemed unlikely a few years ago: Harry appearing publicly alongside his father.

The Invictus Games will be held in Birmingham next year, and British reports have already raised the prospect of the King attending.

A source quoted in the British press said having the King there would be “extra special” for Harry, who has previously spoken publicly about wanting reconciliation with his family.

What the move isn’t

Before we start frothing about a royal comeback, returning to Britain doesn’t mean returning to the Firm. Buckingham Palace sources have been quick to make clear Harry and Meghan aren’t clocking back on as working royals.

The King is understood to have made clear there will be “no alteration” to the Sussexes’ status. Nor are they necessarily giving up their American life. Reports suggest they’ll retain their Montecito home while establishing a British base.

That hasn’t stopped the move being treated as something approaching a royal earthquake.

“This is biblical,” The Telegraph’s Camilla Tominey declared.

“This is the return of the prodigal prince and princess.”

Royal correspondent Victoria Ward posed another question: “Are they admitting the American dream didn’t quite work out?”

And there are few signs a repair in Harry’s relationship with his older brother, Prince William, is on the horizon.

Harry and William are not believed to have spoken for years, with the fallout from Harry’s memoir Spare, his Netflix series and the Sussexes’ interview with Oprah Winfrey still hanging over them.

Back when Princes William and Harry liked each other.

Royal author Phil Dampier believes William has little appetite for reconciliation.

“Friends tell me that, as far as he is concerned, Harry is the past, and he is only concerned about the future for his wife Catherine and their children George, Charlotte and Louis,” he told the Daily Mail.

Next year will mark 30 years since the death of their mother, Diana – an obvious opportunity for the brothers to appear together.

Whether they will is another of the questions Harry’s homecoming has suddenly put back on the table.