Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to Spend Christmas in Montecito with Their Kids — 3 Months After His Reunion with King Charles
- - Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to Spend Christmas in Montecito with Their Kids — 3 Months After His Reunion with King Charles
Stephanie PetitDecember 18, 2025 at 8:42 PM
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Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Canada on Feb. 10, 2025 -
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are celebrating Christmas in California this year with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet
The Duke of Sussex briefly reunited with King Charles in September, prompting speculation about whether he might return to the U.K. for the holidays
Harry and Meghan last spent Christmas with the royal family in 2017 and 2018
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are having a California Christmas this year.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are planning to celebrate the holiday in Montecito with their children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4. The family will remain at home for Christmas as Harry wraps a brief pre-holiday trip to Aspen, Hello! reports. Harry stood in for a friend to take part in the World Snow Polo Championships in the Colorado city.
PEOPLE has reached out to a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for comment.
Meanwhile, King Charles and the rest of the royal family are set to continue their long-standing tradition of spending Christmas at Sandringham, the royal estate in Norfolk. There, the family exchanges gag gifts on Christmas Eve before making a public walk to church on Christmas morning.
The update comes three months after Harry reunited with his father for the first time in 19 months — a meeting that prompted speculation about whether the Duke of Sussex might spend Christmas with the royal family. However, Harry has said his ongoing security concerns in the U.K. make him reluctant to bring Meghan and their children overseas without official protection.
Prince Harry, 41, and King Charles, 77, met in September while the Duke was in the U.K. for the WellChild Awards. Amid Harry’s ongoing rift with his family, the moment marked the first time the father and son had seen each other in person since February 2024, days after the King revealed his cancer diagnosis.
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King Charles and Prince Hary in September 2022
“It’s a massive step in the right direction,” the late Queen Elizabeth’s former spokeswoman Ailsa Anderson told PEOPLE at the time. “It’s a building of trust.”
While the encounter marked a hopeful step forward, royal insiders cautioned that the path to full reconciliation remains long.
“It shows the way forward,” acknowledged an insider with ties to both sides. “It is a good starting point.”
Meghan, 44, and Prince Harry spent Christmas with the royal family in 2017 and 2018.
The 2017 holiday outing was a surprise as it took place just a month after the couple announced their engagement. In prior years, significant others didn't join the royal celebrations until after their weddings.
In the 2022 Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex recounted her first Christmas with the royal family.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images Kate Middleton, Prince William, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at Christmas with the royals in 2017
"I remember so vividly the first Christmas at Sandringham," Meghan said. "Calling my mom, and she's like, 'How's it going?' And I said, 'Oh my gosh, it's amazing.' "
"It's just like a big family, like I always wanted," she added. "And there was just this constant movement and energy and fun."
At dinner, Meghan sat next to "H's grandfather," Prince Philip, and thought their conversation went well.
"And I just thought it was so wonderful. And I was like, 'Oh, we chatted, and it was so great. And I talked about this and talked about this,' " she recalled — although she said that Prince Harry later informed her that she "had his bad ear," meaning Prince Philip likely couldn't hear their entire chat.
Meghan said, "I was like, 'Oh — well, I thought it went really well.' "
Following their May 2018 wedding, Prince Harry and Meghan headed to Sandringham for a traditional royal Christmas again that December. At the time, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were expecting their first child, and their son was born in May 2019.
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Prince Charles, Prince William, Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at Christmas in 20218
In 2019, the couple decided to spend their first holiday season as a family of three privately in Canada.
"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are looking forward to extended family time towards the end of this month," Buckingham Palace said in a November 2019 statement. "Having spent the last two Christmases at Sandringham, Their Royal Highnesses will spend the holiday this year, as a new family, with the Duchess' mother Doria Ragland. This decision is in line with precedent set previously by other members of the Royal Family, and has the support of Her Majesty The Queen."
In January 2020, Meghan and Prince Harry announced their intention to step back as working members of the royal family. They relocated to Meghan's home state of California later that year, staying in Tyler Perry's Los Angeles home before buying a home in Montecito.
Meghan and Prince Harry spent their first Christmas as a family of four in 2021 after welcoming their daughter in June.
"This year, 2021, we welcomed our daughter, Lilibet, to the world. Archie made us a 'Mama' and a 'Papa,' and Lili made us a family," they said in their holiday card.
Meghan recently gave some insight into how her family spends the holidays in With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration on Netflix, which was filmed last holiday season and premiered on Dec. 3. In addition to embracing the British tradition of Christmas crackers (which she said she picked up during her time in the U.K.), she also cooked Christmas Eve gumbo — a recipe from her mother, Doria Ragland.
While Archie and Lilibet did not appear in the episode, Meghan filled personalized Advent calendars for them with handwritten notes like “I love you because you’re so kind" and "I love you because you're so brave.”
"Hopefully we’ll have these for quite a long time — a tradition has to have a beginning," she said.
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