Capturing a significant moment, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were photographed as they departed from Birmingham Airport, marking the start of their new chapter in Britain after spending six years in the United States.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the transatlantic journey aboard a luxurious Bombardier Global Express XRS, a state-of-the-art long-range business jet, departing from Los Angeles’s Van Nuys Airport with their two children.
Images have surfaced showing an £80,000 Mercedes-Benz V220d driving away from the airport just 20 minutes following their midday touchdown. The exclusive aircraft facilitated their swift arrival in the UK.
While Harry and Meghan’s faces are obscured in these images, it is believed they were seated in the rear of the vehicle, with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet situated further back, providing family privacy and comfort.
Occupying the front passenger seat was David Langdown, Harry’s security consultant, who is reputed to have assembled a specialized team of British security personnel to ensure the family’s safety during their stay.
Mr Langdown, who is friends with Harry having known him for at least 15 years, is understood to have brought in a security team of people he knows and trusts.
A witness told the Daily Mail that three cars arrived at the airport at 10am before being driven out towards the runway just after 11am, where they waited for the plane.
The jet landed at Birmingham at 11.57am before taxiing into an area of the airport run by a firm called Signature Aviation, which offers private aircraft ground handling.
Prince Harry and Meghan are believed to have been in the back of this £80,000 Mercedes-Benz V220d, which left Birmingham Airport after they landed on a private aircraft yesterday
The man on the right at the front is David Langdown, Harry’s security adviser and friend
Earlier, three cars waited at Birmingham Airport from about 10am for Harry’s plane to arrive
The plane was met by ground crew before being moved into another area of the airport, and the three vehicles followed behind before parking next to its steps.
By about 12.15pm, the Mercedes car left while the other two vehicles stayed on the Tarmac to be loaded up with baggage before leaving 40 minutes later.
The Sussexes are understood to have been given no police protection for their arrival, amid ongoing questions over whether taxpayers will foot the bill for their security.
They chartered the jet with Planet Nine Private Air, a California-based private aircraft operator. Hiring it is believed to cost about $12,000 (£9,000) per hour of flight time.
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The Sussexes are now setting up their home in the UK but plan to live as an ‘international’ family, keeping their properties in California and Portugal.
The announcement that they were returning to Britain came as a shock after they quit the working monarchy in 2020 and bought a house in Montecito.
Harry, 41, and Meghan, 45, will live in a non-royal residence outside London. Their children have both been enrolled in UK schools in or around the Cotswolds and are ready to start next week.
It comes a month after the couple took Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, to see their grandfather the King for the first time in four years at Highgrove.
Sussex-friendly People magazine suggested this week that the monarch wanted to see his sons Harry and Prince William ‘together over time’.
The brothers no longer speak, falling out around the time of Harry’s 2018 wedding, with the relationship worsening following Harry’s accusations on TV and in his book.
The Bombardier Global Express XRS luxury long-range business jet at Birmingham Airport
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at a David Foster Foundation event in Canada on August 7
Yesterday, sources close to Harry said he ‘never really stopped missing home’ after leaving Britain six years ago. Harry also wants his children to ‘understand the world he grew up in and where their family comes from’, according to insiders.
Meghan, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, is also feeling ‘very fortunate that they’re able to give Archie and Lilibet the opportunity to experience both worlds’.
The rest of the Royal Family is at Balmoral in Aberdeenshire for their summer break, and the King was photographed out for a drive nearby at Braemar today.
Questions have been raised over the Sussexes’ finances as decisions about whether taxpayers will foot the bill for their security remain unanswered – but the duchess will continue to run her lifestyle brand, As Ever, from their new base.
After his level of protection changed when he stepped down as a working royal in 2020, the duke has faced a protracted legal battle with the Home Office over security for him and his family while they are in the UK, and their arrangements may change when they become permanent residents again.
At the end of June, Harry was still waiting for a review by the Risk Management Board, part of the process by which the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) rules on his security requirements – and he and his security detail were working to try to ensure his July visit could go ahead safely.
Individual decisions on protective security for key public figures, including members of the Royal Family, are made by Ravec – which includes the Home Office, Metropolitan Police and Royal Household – which advises an independent chairman.