Estate agents may be disappointed: the Duke and Duchess of Sussex appear to have abandoned plans to buy a country house of their own.
The couple, who returned to Britain from California in late August, were reportedly prepared to spend as much as £10million on a property.
Instead, I understand that Harry and Meghan have moved into a home belonging to a friend.
The Sussexes relocated the weekend before taking an overseas holiday during the school half-term break for their children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five.
Since arriving in Britain, the family had been staying with the friend, a wealthy businessman based in the Cotswolds.
‘They were living in the main house,’ a friend of the businessman tells me. ‘They have now moved to a property on the estate.’
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex appear to have ended their search for a country property and moved into a home owned by a friend
The businessman became acquainted with Prince Harry through their shared support for military charities. He is reportedly content for Harry, Meghan and their children to remain on his estate.
The Sussexes have kept their £19.5million Montecito mansion following their move to Britain. The California property includes a wine cellar, cinema, gym, spa, swimming pool, tennis court, wood-fired stove, barbecue and 13-and-a-half bathrooms.
I revealed in 2024 that the couple had purchased a coastal property in Portugal, close to the home of Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank. Both properties are at the CostaTerra Golf & Ocean Club, an exclusive development of 300 seaside homes in Melides, south of Lisbon.
The Sussexes were believed to be seeking a Cotswolds property with extensive grounds, no public rights of way and at least nine bedrooms.
£350million India has an utterly frightful wedding!
Soho heiress India Rose James cut into a black-ribbon-decorated wedding cake during the candlelit reception at Oakley Court in Berkshire
India, whose fortune with her half-sister Fawn is estimated at more than £700million, married musician Daniel Vildosola on Halloween
Now that’s a wedding designed to give its guests the creeps!
Soho heiress India Rose James marked her marriage to Mexican-American musician Daniel Vildosola, 40, with a Halloween celebration.
India, 34, the granddaughter of the late pornographer and property magnate Paul Raymond, sliced into a wedding cake trimmed with black ribbons at the candlelit reception at Oakley Court in Berkshire. The venue famously served as Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s castle in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
India, whose wealth with her half-sister Fawn is thought to exceed £700million, wore an ivory dress featuring black ribbon bows that echoed the cake’s decoration.
The couple had already held their first wedding ceremony in Las Vegas over the summer.
Adolescence star Ashley Walters once performed as a rapper with hip-hop group So Solid Crew, but his musical tastes have since become more mellow. ‘My younger self would not imagine Ashley being a classical music or jazz fan,’ the 44-year-old actor says in Big Issue magazine’s Letter to my Younger Self feature.
‘But it comes from age – I just can’t listen to drill any more. I need music to calm me down and focus me.’
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Olivia’s just Wilde about British men
Olivia Wilde, who previously dated Harry Styles, is now involved in a relationship with art dealer Caspar Jopling
Olivia Wilde is a big fan of all things British – including our men!
After going out with pop superstar Harry Styles, 32, the American actress and director, 42, is now involved in a relationship with art dealer Caspar Jopling, 34.
He’s the Eton-educated ex-husband of pop singer Ellie Goulding.
‘I’ll be spending more time in the UK,’ Olivia says during an In Conversation talk at the BFI Southbank in London.
‘I’m on week three of a film we’re making here in London. It’s a Christmas comedy and I love it so much. I’m building the North Pole right now on a sound-stage and it’s insane.’
Stella on ‘weird’ life touring with Macca
Touring with a pop superstar would have been a dream for most teenagers, but not so for Sir Paul McCartney’s daughter Stella.
‘I was kind of angry when I was 18 because I was building friendships and getting into the swing of my own thing,’ admits the fashion designer, 55. ‘I was like: “What, really? We have to go on a world tour?”‘ Stella, whose mother Linda died in 1998, recalls the contrast between the family’s quiet farm life in Scotland and her parents’ extraordinary fame.
‘Mum was cooking, dad was shearing sheep and writing songs,’ she says. ‘And then we were on tour with, like, 200,000 people screaming at your parents… it was trippy and weird and surreal.’
She now insists, however, that travelling the world was ‘one of the biggest privileges’ of her upbringing, adding: ‘Everything that my mum and dad did came from a place of love.’
Lotus star raises a glass to booze
Gen Z’s obsession with clean living has failed to win over The White Lotus star Sam Nivola, who thinks his generation would benefit from a few more boozy nights out.
The 23-year-old son of British actress Emily Mortimer and American actor Alessandro Nivola laments that young people drink less than they used to. ‘It’s kind of terrible, honestly, that we don’t drink as much,’ he says. ‘We’ve gone soft.
‘It’s tied in with the health movement. So much of advertising and the products in the world are about wellness.’
Sam, who is dating US actress Iris Apatow, 24, adds: ‘Drinking, of course, it’s terrible for you. It’s poisoning your body. But also, I think it’s worth poisoning yourself a little bit once a week to meet someone new and kiss that girl that you like.’
The actor also warns that young people’s obsession with self-care can slip into ‘selfishness and narcissism’. He says: ‘Not everything revolves around you.’
Michael Douglas, who reveals in his new memoir an affair with Kathleen Turner while filming Romancing The Stone, has advice for the next generation. ‘A lot of actors make the mistake early in their career of having a relationship with their leading lady,’ he said at the Royal Festival Hall in London. ‘What they forget is that you can break up. They’re having to perform these love scenes, and they hate each other. We’ve all made that mistake, and I try to warn people.’
Tom Cruise’s awkward backstage compliment
Riz Ahmed, who appears in Tom Cruise’s comedy film Digger, was disturbed by the star’s relentless cheeriness.
‘Tom Cruise is so nice and positive and sweet that as a British person it’s very uncomfortable,’ admits the Londoner, 43. ‘We were about to go on stage for the royal premiere and Tom turned around and said: ‘Riz, your mom – I love your mom, she’s fantastic. Beautiful, inside and out.’
‘I was like: “ok”.’