Questions have surfaced over who will fund Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's security when they return to live in Britain later this month.
It was revealed last night that the Sussexes will reside in the UK 'for an extended period' once more - six years after they sensationally quit their duties as working royals in a fiasco dubbed 'Megxit'.
Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, are set to enrol at a school with the Duke and Duchess ready to move into a non-royal residence. Their status as non-working royals is, indeed, not set to change.
Only three months ago the 41-year-old Duke lost a battle for taxpayer-funded armed police bodyguards during visits to the UK.
Harry had fought the dismissal of his High Court claim against the Home Office over the decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) that he should receive a different degree of protection when in the country.
The Duke's barrister argued that threats against Harry had not diminished just because he had stopped being a frontline royal, and his military service had placed him at particular risk.
But England's most senior judge, Master of the Rolls Sir Geoffrey Vos ruled that while 'these were powerful and moving arguments, and it was plain the Duke of Sussex felt badly treated by the system…I could not say that the Duke's sense of grievance translated into a legal argument'.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (pictured in April) are moving back to the United Kingdom later this month
It comes just three months after Harry (pictured outside the Royal Courts of Justice) lost a battle for taxpayer-funded armed police bodyguards during visits to the UK
Questions have now surfaced over who will fund the Sussexes' (pictured in 2022) security following their one-way trip across the Atlantic
It meant that taxpayer-funded armed bodyguards would not be reinstated for Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet, sparking speculation that the family could choose not to return to the UK.
At the time, Harry said of his children in an interview with the BBC: 'I think it's really quite sad that I won't be able to show my children my homeland'.
But just a few short months on and the Sussexes' return is imminent - though it is not yet known whether they have been given reassurances over security from the Home Office.
It is also unclear whether the financial burden of security would fall on the British taxpayer.
The Duke and Duchess last visited Britain in July - two months after the Court of Appeal's ruling - when Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet met King Charles and Queen Camilla at the monarch's private residence in Highgrove, Gloucestershire.
The occasion marked the first time Charles had seen the two children in four years, though the meeting was organised in a shroud of secrecy.
It is thought that Harry is keen to reconcile his and Charles' relationship and even hopes that the King will open the Invictus Games with him in Birmingham next July.
The Duke's relationship with his brother, Prince William - the future monarch - has meanwhile been strained ever since he and Meghan quit the UK to move Stateside in 2020.
Harry and Will are not thought to have spoken for years. The Prince and Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, were understood to have been 'deeply hurt' by allegations made in Harry's memoir, Spare.
Whether Harry plans to try and resolve his and Will's differences when he returns to the UK remains to be seen, but their father is said to 'welcome' the news of the Duke's return.
Yet it is speculated that the 77-year-old may have been blindsided by the revelation - after Harry and Meghan failed to notify Charles of their plans when they visited last month.
The Daily Mail understands that there was no mention of the family's impending return to Britain when they met with the King and Queen at Highgrove.
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 and Duchess no longer require accommodation for their patronages with the whole family believed to be returning for an extended period within the next two weeks.
It is not yet known, however, whether the move will be a permanent one. The location of Harry and Meghan's new home has not been revealed for privacy reasons.
Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, are thought to have already enrolled in a British school (the family are pictured in December 2025)
Harry's relationship with his brother Prince William has been strained ever since he quit life as a working royal in 2020 (Kate, Will, Harry and Meghan are pictured in 2022)
It is, however, thought that King Charles 'welcomes' news of his son's return to Britain (the pair are pictured together in 2022)
The Sussexes will continue their respective business enterprises when they move back to Britain - and are set to retain their £11million home in Montecito, California, where they have lived since moving across the Atlantic Ocean.
The surprise news comes six years after the couple left Britons in disbelief when they stepped down as working royals.
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.
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, describing them as an orchestrated smear campaign against her.
He said: 'There had been one or two stories which suggested there were difficult relations between Meghan and her staff. We'd seen them and the phrase "Duchess Difficult" had been used.
'We knew Meghan was angry about those stories. We knew she challenged that narrative'.
He claimed that some of the royal staff who had worked with the Sussexes were still in a 'very fragile state' more than two years later - and despite the royal couple having emigrated 5,000 miles away to the US.
'They were very worried about what Meghan would do to them. They viewed her capacity for revenge as infinite.
'They'd left the employ of the Royal Family and they still were in a psychologically delicate state as a result of what happened to them at that time'.
The couple 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.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex later moved to Vancouver Island in 2020 after their decision to leave the royal family was made public.
The Home Office and Harry and Meghan's representatives were contacted for comment.