As Prince Harry and Meghan Depart California for the U.K., Their Neighbors Shrug
New York Times · LC · trust 38/100
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle self exiled to the ultrawealthy enclave of Montecito in 2020. “They wave. They drive. They close the gates,” a neighbor said.
Listen · 7:51 min Share full article 7 The duke and duchess of Sussex went among the people, but few knew them well. Credit... Ronald Martinez/Getty Images By Shawn Hubler and Livia Albeck-Ripka
The Telegraph, a staid British newspaper, preceded the news with the most prized of Fleet Street boasts, “ Exclusive. ”
“MEGXIT BOMBSHELL,” trumpeted The Sun , a raffish tabloid. It also claimed “WORLD EXCLUSIVE” for good measure.
But in Montecito, the sun-soaked, celebrity-studded California community where the couple have lived since 2020, word of the royal departure spread at the usual pace: leisurely.
“Want to know how much a nonstory it is up here?” asked Ann Louise Bardach, an author and journalist who lives in the region. She scrolled local news sites. The police were searching for a bank robber. The nearby Santa Barbara Zoo had euthanized a capybara. Yet there was “not one word” about the royals’ departure, Ms. Bardach said.
“I’m not saying it’s not a big story.” But “look who the neighbors are,” she added. “Oprah.”
It has been six years since Harry and Meghan went into self-imposed exile, torn by family feuds in Buckingham Palace and efforts to carve out their own professional identities.
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