Prince Harry is preparing to celebrate his 40th birthday in just a few weeks, but this milestone birthday comes just three months after he has been living in the United States with his wife Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex.
The youngest son of King Charles and the late Princess Diana made the decision to step away from royal duties in June 2020 to raise their son, Prince Archie, away from the royal spotlight, instead relocating to California with his wife.
Life in the United States has been everything the prince had hoped for, and the family, which now welcomes their second child, Princess Lilibet, is clearly enjoying their newfound normalcy, but this has also come at a price, as some of Prince Harry’s friendships have been hurt. From the strain of distance since moving.
“I miss my friends… I’ve lost some along the way,” he previously revealed in the Netflix series. Though he has lost some friends over time, he has managed to maintain important connections with those closest to him.
Among them were Ludgrove’s school friend Charlie van Straubensee and former Queen Mark Dyer, both of whom later became godfathers to Prince Archie. Prince Harry and his wife are also said to be close to Canadian music mogul David Foster (74) and Meghan’s school friend and wife, Katharine McPhee (40).
But then, according to a source, The Sunday Times reported, Prince Harry’s friendships had started to fray long before he moved to the United States. A source who once worked closely with Harry and was a frequent visitor to his former homes of Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace and Frogmore Cottage at Windsor told The Times: “Friends would come to see him, including military friends and polo friends,
but then they stopped.” Then yoga gurus and health gurus came along and everyone said we needed to eat less meat and fly less. We were all scratching our heads when they got on the private jet.”
Despite the criticism, Prince Harry has no regrets about his decision to emigrate and settle in sunny Montecito. He previously told viewers of the documentary “we are exactly where we need to be”, but added that he “misses England”.
