by It seems that Prince Harry has come to the realization that he has no plans to return to life in the UK anytime soon. The Duke of Sussex left his home in Britain and moved to the United States four years ago.
He settled in California, where he now lives with his wife Meghan Markle and their two children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Last year, the Royal couple had to give up their UK home Frogmore Cottage – leaving them with no permanent UK base.
Now, it has emerged that Prince Harry has changed his country of residence from the UK to the United States on official documents. He filed a notice with Companies House for the non-profit ecotourism organization Travalyst, which he founded.
READ MORE: Pensions warning as millions face HMRC tax bill they didn’t know they owed
Sign up to the BirminghamLive newsletter here to get the latest updates on the biggest and latest stories.
Prince Harry’s residence was on Companies House in the UK when the project was launched four years ago. But a filly read two days ago that the United States was his ‘new country/state of habitual residence’.
The date of the change was backdated to June 29, 2023 – one of the last days he and Meghan had access to Frogmore Cottage before handing back the keys. It emerged last March that King Charles had asked the Sussexes to leave the property.
The late Queen gave it to them as a gift after they married in 2018. A spokesman for the couple said at the time: “We can confirm that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been asked to leave their residence at Frogmore Cottage.”
Prince Harry has made a few visits to the UK since then – including after receiving news of his father King Charles’ cancer diagnosis. He is expected to travel back next month to mark ten years of his Invictus Games in service at St Paul’s Cathedral.
He took legal action against the Home Office over a decision by the Executive Committee for the Protection of Public Dues and Figures (Ravec) in February 2020 that he should receive a different level of taxpayer-funded protection while in the country.
Ravec’s decision followed a change in the Duke’s ‘status’ after he ceased to be a ‘full-time member of the royal family’, a judge was told. Its initial offer an appeal was refused this week, and he lost a High Court challenge over the decision to change the level of his personal security while in the UK.
In January 2022, his legal representative said: “The United Kingdom will always be Prince Harry’s home and a country where he wants his wife and children to be safe. With the lack of police protection, personal risk comes too -big.
“Prince Harry hopes that his petition – after almost two years of pleas for security in the United Kingdom – will resolve this situation.” But months later, the prince told NBC that America was his home.
He said: “Home for me, now, for the time being, is in the States. And it feels very much like that, as well. I have been welcomed with open arms and we have such a great community in Santa Barbara.”
On Monday, April 15, a judicial spokesman said that Prince Harry lost his first bid to appeal against the decision. He is still able to ask the Court of Appeal for the green light to appeal.
This week Prince Harry made a surprise appearance at Travalyst’s annual general meeting and urged the travel industry to ‘do more for local communities’. He said the industry needs to do better by local communities in the main resorts, claiming there would be no tourism business in the future without them.
Appearing via video link from his home in Montecito, Harry said: “Travel and tourism depend on destinations, which hold communities together, to which we have nowhere to travel. people who are guardians of the places we visit.”
Last year, the sustainable tourism project issued a statement insisting that Prince Harry was still a ‘valuable part’ of the organization after he was not mentioned in the reform. Prince Harry launched London-based non-profit Travalyst in 2019 when he and Meghan were still working with royals.
It aimed to make tourism and travel more eco-friendly and sustainable by bringing together major travel firms such as TripAdvisor and Skyscanner. Prince Harry was the face of the project – despite taking private jets.
Last May it emerged that Travalyst had made a big announcement, revealing its move from ‘pilot stage’ to a new board of five with ‘excellent expertise’ – but without mentioning Harry.
Harry was only mentioned in the press releases made by the project in the ‘about us’ blurb at the bottom of the issue. Previously, it was reported that it was prominently mentioned at the top of the text.
It is understood Travalyst did not name Prince Harry in the board’s reform announcement as his commitment to the project remains the same. In a statement, Travalyst CEO Sally Davey said: “Prince Harry is the founder of Travalyst and remains a valued part of this organisation.
“His role has not changed, and he is regularly involved in strategic discussions and decisions with our partners and our board.”
