Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s former neighbours have delivered a scathing verdict on the couple following their bombshell move back to Britain, claiming the Sussexes never truly became part of their exclusive Montecito community.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, aged 41 and 45 respectively, landed by private jet at Birmingham Airport last Wednesday, marking the beginning of their new life in Harry’s home country after six years in the US.
While the self-described “international couple” have made it clear they intend to keep their sprawling Montecito mansion, Château of Riven Rock, as well as their luxury holiday home in Portugal, the Sussexes have been widely tipped to establish their main UK base in the picturesque Cotswolds.
The move would put the family close to Highgrove House, where the Duke spent much of his childhood and which remains the private residence of his father, King Charles III.
Already, some prospective neighbours have expressed reservations about the Sussexes’ arrival, including celebrity interior designer and TV personality Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.
However, it appears the couple’s departure has hardly caused heartbreak back in California either, with several former neighbours now speaking out about their experience of having the Sussexes in town.
Author and longtime Montecito resident Robert Eringer told the Daily Mail the “general impression” among locals following their departure was simply “good riddance”.
“Personally it matters not one iota to me whether they’re in Montecito or in Britain,” Eringer said.
“I’m out and about in Montecito a lot and never saw them. I doubt anyone would have noticed they’d left if it hadn’t been reported in the news but, since it was, the general impression is, good riddance.”
Another neighbour, who declined to be named, claimed the family’s departure was so discreet that there was little indication they were leaving at all.
“There were no moving trucks, no parties, nothing at all. One day they were here and the next they were back in England,” they said.
The neighbour described their departure as being “with a whimper, not a bang”.
But perhaps the most damning assessment came from another local, identified only as Susan, who claimed Harry and Meghan never made much effort to integrate with neighbours who were not wealthy or famous.
Susan told the outlet she had left a bottle of wine at the gates of Château of Riven Rock to welcome the Sussexes when they first moved to Montecito in 2020- only for it to be returned to her unopened the following day.
“I’m not sure they ever wanted to hang out with anyone who wasn’t a billionaire or famous or both,” she said.
“Meghan and Harry never became part of the community.”
The neighbours’ claims come amid further criticism of the Sussexes’ six years in California, with respected royal reporter Tom Sykes questioning why the couple appeared to have so little involvement in charitable causes within their own community.
“It is extraordinary how little involvement they [the Sussexes] had, especially in local charities,” Sykes said on his The Royalist podcast.
Sykes said a well-placed source who lived near the Sussexes’ Montecito home had similarly claimed they “had absolutely no involvement in the local charities there”.
“We all think of Montecito as being an incredibly rich area, but of course, like all these incredibly rich communities, cheek by jowl, there’s a very poor community which services that very rich community, made up of a lot of undocumented workers, and poorly paid workers without proper rights.
“There have been a lot of interesting stories saying the Sussexes really struggled to hang onto staff, and rumours went around those communities that they were snobbish and difficult to work for, et cetera, et cetera.”
Sykes went on to question why Harry and Meghan had not become more involved in their local community, pointing to the couple’s famous declaration about public service following their departure from royal duties.
Sykes added: “Again, it does seem extraordinary that, you know, having left with this declaration that ‘service is universal’, well, why then didn’t they go and do some service when they got to Montecito?”
The criticism has not been confined to the Sussexes; former neighbours, with award-winning journalist Paula Froelich previously claiming their departure had prompted a similarly dismissive reaction among some in Hollywood.
Speaking to Sykes in a seperate video interview for The Royalist, Froelich claimed the sentiment among some of the couple’s celebrity circles was much the same.
“People in Montecito and Hollywood were like, ‘Uh bye, don’t let the door hit you on the way out’,” she said.
“They [The Sussexes] were completely self-centred, and they were not a value add.”