Prince Harry beamed last night after announcing he and Meghan Markle are moving back to the United Kingdom - six years after leaving for the US.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are understood to be returning for an 'extended period' within a matter of days, with Archie and Lilibet set to enrol at a British school.

The family will move into a non-royal residence and will not be working royals . King Charles was only told by his son on Sunday that he plans to move back to the UK later this month, while the Prince and Princess of Wales have also been informed.

It is understood that while he 'welcomes' the chance to see Harry and his family in a private and personal capacity, the King is clear that there will be 'no alteration' to the Duke and Duchess's role and status as private individuals and non-working members of the Royal Family in keeping with their 'clearly expressed wishes and agreement over past years'.

Sources insist, however, it is not in the Sussexes' 'plan' to return to the royal fold. The Mail also understands that no mention of the family's return was raised or discussed when Harry, Meghan and their children met with the King at Highgrove earlier this summer.

Last night, Harry was pictured broadly smiling at a roundtable event in Washington discussing increased support for veterans.

The Duke, who served 10 years as a captain in the British Army and completed two frontline tours in Afghanistan, listened intently to the speakers, who included Jane Horton, senior adviser to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

He was later seen speaking with Sarah Verado, chief executive of The Independence Fund, a non-profit dedicated to helping wounded veterans and their families, and shared a light-hearted conversation with fellow red-haired veteran William Bringer.

Harry was already scheduled to visit Britain to attend a WellChild Awards event next month and was set to stay in a room at Buckingham Palace.

But the Duke, 41, and Duchess, 45, no longer require accommodation for their stay with the whole family believed to be returning for an extended period within the next two weeks. 

Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, will be enrolling at a school in September but it is not yet known whether the move will be a permanent one. The location of Harry and Meghan's new home has not been revealed for privacy reasons.

It comes as: 

• Blindsided Charles only found about return to the UK on Sunday;
• Meghan and Harry are believed to already have a house lined up in Britain; 
• They will retain their £11million Montecito home and their residence in Portugal;
• Harry attended an event in Washington last night about support for veterans;
• A report suggested Donald Trump played a part in the couple's decision to leave.

The Sussexes are set to retain their £11million home in Montecito, California, where they have lived since moving across the Atlantic Ocean. They also still own a residence in Portugal. 

The surprise news comes six years after Harry and Meghan stepped down as working royals in Britain.

In a statement released at the time, following a 12-month review, Elizabeth II confirmed that they would not 'continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service'.

The former monarch added that Harry and Meghan would not be maintaining a 'half in, half out' approach to their duties. Harry was later stripped of his honorary military titles.

It came after the pair, who wed in 2018, announced their decision to leave without consulting Charles, Camilla or Prince William - in a move which sparked fierce criticism.  

The Duke and Duchess were accused of 'press[ing] the nuclear button' when they made the bombshell announcement just days after returning from a six-week break in Canada. They later permanently moved to California in March 2020.

It was claimed earlier this year that Palace staff had given Meghan the nickname 'Duchess Difficult' during her time living in Britain. The American was accused of bullying and, on certain occasions, even making staff cry. 

It was said that workers were left 'in a psychologically delicate state' and 'viewed her capacity for revenge as infinite', an expert has alleged. 

Meghan vehemently denied the allegations and described their release as an orchestrated smear campaign against her. 

The bullying story was first reported in March 2021, just before Harry and Meghan were to appear on screen with Oprah Winfrey to discuss Megxit.

The Sussexes famously appeared in public together for the first time at the Toronto Invictus Games in 2017 when they were pictured hand-in-hand at a wheelchair tennis event.

They later moved to Vancouver Island in 2020 after their decision to leave the royal family was made public.

Harry's relationship with both his father and brother, Prince William - the future monarch - is since believed to have become strained. 

The siblings are not thought to have spoken for years, with William and his wife Kate Middleton said to have been 'deeply hurt' by allegations made in Harry's memoir, Spare. 

The brothers were reported to have promised to put aside their differences in honour of their late mother Princess Diana - but, according to royal author Phil Dampier, that promise was broken.

He told the Mail earlier this year: 'William and Harry put aside their differences for the unveiling of the statue of their mother Princess Diana [five years ago], but things are much worse now.

'I think William would find it very hard to meet Harry, even to honour Diana's memory. Next year marks the 30th anniversary of her death, so that would be an obvious time for them to try and heal their rift and at least be seen together, but I don't think William's heart is in it.

'Friends tell me that, as far as he is concerned, Harry is the past, and he is only concerned about the future for his wife Catherine and their children George, Charlotte and Louis.

'He will never forgive Harry, in my opinion, not just for leaving the Royal Family, but for the dirt he dished out in his book Spare, the Netflix show and the Oprah Winfrey interview.

'It led to Catherine being smeared as a racist, and he will never forget that.'

Harry is said to have missed living in the UK - and it has even been speculated that he has been 'desperate' for Archie and Lilibet to experience life in his home country. 

Harry hopes that Charles will open next summer's Invictus Games alongside him in what would be a major move towards reconciling their relationship. It is, nevertheless, currently unknown whether that will materialise.  

The pair enjoyed a private reunion, along with Meghan and their children, only last month - four years after the monarch last saw Lilibet and Archie. 

The Duke and Duchess were welcomed by Charles and Camilla to the King's private residence, Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, in a move which marked a step towards healing Harry's relationship with his father. 

Charles, as well as Camilla, had also been subject to criticism from the 41-year-old in his 2023 memoir - but Harry visited the King a year later amid news of his cancer diagnosis.

The Sussexes had already set about rebuilding a base in Europe prior to tonight's revelations, having bought a property at the plush Costa Terra resort in Portugal three years ago. 

The couple and their children holidayed at the resort only a month ago as Meghan shared snaps of pristine beaches, swimming pools and restaurants to her Instagram.