{"id":552586,"date":"2026-07-31T07:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T07:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/552586\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T07:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T07:00:12","slug":"prince-harry-took-meghan-and-kids-to-secret-island-instead-of-balmoral-royal-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/552586\/","title":{"rendered":"Prince Harry took Meghan and kids to secret island instead of Balmoral | Royal | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Duke of Sussex is understood to have taken Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet to a secluded Scottish island owned by billionaire hedge fund manager Ian Wace – despite not yet taking his children<\/a> to Balmoral, the Royal Family\u2019s private Scottish estate he once described as “simply paradise”.<\/p>\n

The Express understands Harry, Meghan and their children<\/a> stayed earlier this month on Tanera Mor, a private island in the Summer Isles off the west coast of Scotland.<\/p>\n

The 800-acre island is said to have provided inspiration for the cult 1973 film The Wicker Man, starring Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee and Britt Ekland.<\/p>\n

Harry is believed to have visited Tanera Mor before. The island was purchased in 2017 for \u00a31.7 million by Wace, co-founder of hedge fund firm Marshall Wace.<\/p>\n

When Wace, 63, bought the island, it had a population of just five people, alongside numerous crofters\u2019 cottages in various states of disrepair.<\/p>\n

Since then, the billionaire has invested around \u00a3100 million transforming the island, planting 100,000 trees, restoring 12 properties and building three miles of roads.<\/p>\n

He has also helped revive traditional activities including beekeeping.<\/p>\n

One aspect of the island that may have appealed to Harry is its connection with the Taigh Mor Foundation, a charity supporting the wellbeing of people working in the armed forces and emergency services.<\/p>\n

By last year, more than half of the 1,000 guests hosted on Tanera had been connected with the foundation.<\/p>\n

Visitors supported by the charity take part in activities including restoring buildings, harvesting seaweed, fishing for mackerel and working in the kitchens and gardens, reports the Daily Mail.<\/p>\n

Wace, a well-known philanthropist, has had links with Harry and Prince William<\/a> for years.<\/p>\n

His former wife, ex-model Saffron Aldridge, is also understood to have developed a friendship with Meghan after the Duchess moved to Britain to live with Harry.<\/p>\n

In 2019, the year after Meghan married Prince Harry<\/a>, Saffron and Wace joined the couple at a Cirque du Soleil performance at the Royal Albert Hall.<\/p>\n

Reports at the time said Meghan valued Saffron\u2019s reputation as a “straight talker”, while their shared interest in fashion helped strengthen their friendship.<\/p>\n

Wace and Saffron separated in 2023 and have since divorced, although they are understood to remain friends.<\/p>\n

The Sussexes are believed to have travelled to Scotland from Northamptonshire, where they stayed with Earl and Countess Spencer at Althorp, the Spencer family\u2019s ancestral home.<\/p>\n

During their visit, they laid flowers at the grave of Harry\u2019s mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s UK trip also included tea with King Charles and Queen Camilla at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said: “This is not something we would comment on.”<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Wace also declined to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Duke of Sussex is understood to have taken Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet to a secluded Scottish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[156,271405,4866,111,139,69,3578,271404],"class_list":["post-552586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ian-wace","tag-meghan-markle","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-prince-harry","tag-tanera-mor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}