Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Reportedly Make a Big Decision About Their Christmas Plans After U.K. Return

Rachel BurchfieldSun, October 11, 2026 at 5:42 PM UTC

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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on April 14, 2026.Credit: GettyThe Gist -

In late August, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and their children unexpectedly moved back to the U.K. after six years away living in Montecito, California.

As Christmas approaches, the couple have reportedly decided their Christmas plans—and it doesn’t involve joining the royal family at Sandringham.

“They also know they’re not going to be invited, and they’re not waiting for an invitation,” a source told The Sunday Times.

Despite their return to the U.K. in late August, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and their children will not be spending Christmas at Sandringham alongside members of the royal family, multiple outlets report.

Instead, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will spend the holiday with Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland, likely traveling to California, where she remains despite the Sussex family’s U.K. move. Harry, Meghan, and their children Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, will also spend Thanksgiving with Ragland, People reported, adding that where they spend both holidays will be based on Ragland’s preferences.

“For Thanksgiving and Christmas, they will do whatever Doria wants to do,” a friend told The Sunday Times. “They would love her to come over to the U.K. and spend it with them here, but they will be wherever she wants to be.”

Doria Ragland, Meghan Markle, and Prince Harry on September 20, 2018.Credit: Ben Stansall - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Of spending Christmas with the royal family at Sandringham, “They know it would be too awkward and too difficult,” a source told The Sunday Times. “They also know they’re not going to be invited, and they’re not waiting for an invitation.”

The last time Harry and Meghan spent Christmas at Sandringham was back in 2018, the year they married. Meghan was pregnant with Archie at the time, and she has only spent two Christmases at Sandringham, having also been invited in 2017 despite not yet having married Harry (the two were engaged by the December 25 holiday).

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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on Christmas Day 2018.Credit: Getty

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on Christmas Day 2017.Credit: Getty Images

The last time Harry and Meghan are thought to have seen Harry’s father King Charles was in July, when they visited the monarch at his country home, Highgrove. The king has been spending his late summer days at Balmoral in Scotland, and People reported that “Harry and his father have remained in contact by phone.”

Harry “has not yet seen the king, who is still in Scotland, but it will happen,” a friend told The Sunday Times.

As for Harry and his brother Prince William, the two are not thought to have spoken since the September 19, 2022 funeral of their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth. Of William and Kate Middleton, “It was very hard on them, and I wouldn’t blame William for being cautious,” a source told People.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Nottingham on December 1, 2017.Credit: Getty

Though they won’t be spending Christmas at Sandringham, Harry and Meghan are due to undertake their first joint appearance since returning to the U.K. later this week—reminiscent of appearances undertaken when they were still working royals, before leaving their roles in 2020. Harry and Meghan will visit Nottingham, England on October 15, which symbolically was the location of their first appearance after they announced their engagement in 2017.

“Nottingham is a really special place for them, and they are looking forward to getting back out there into the community, together,” a friend told The Sunday Times, which cited friends of the couple as saying Harry and Meghan are “happy and settled” in their new home in the Cotswolds.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”