Long Before Prince Harry Moved to California, His Mother Princess Diana Dreamed of Doing So Herself

When it happened back in 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s relocation from the U.K. to the U.S.—California specifically—didn’t seem totally random. After all, Meghan is from there, and just as she was willing to relocate to Harry’s native U.K. in the beginning of their marriage, why wouldn’t he be willing to do the same in reverse? But it seems that Harry’s move to the U.S. might have even deeper roots than previously thought, The Daily Express reports.

Harry’s mother Princess Diana had a long-held desire to move part-time to the U.S., specifically to Malibu. This was played out in the most recent season of The Crown, the first half of which dropped on Netflix on Thursday. On the show, Diana (played by Elizabeth Debicki) has a desire to move “away from England,” she shares during a heart-to-heart with Dodi Fayed (played by Khalid Abdalla) in episode three. The two sit on the Fayed yacht in St. Tropez as Diana discusses her struggles with the media, who had been pursuing the two during their holiday together. 

“They make like they’re your friend, and then they just write insult after insult anyway,” the character of Diana tells Dodi. “It makes me want to just move away, start afresh. Move to another country. Somewhere like…”

“California,” Dodi suggests. “Exactly,” Diana replies. “Away from England, anyway. Somewhere where one can actually be free. Sit under a tiny tree with a boy you like eating ice cream.”

Although many believe this was a line added in as a foretelling of where her younger son would end up, “In real life, Diana made similar comments during the same period, though in a slightly different context,” The Daily Express reports. “Friends also said relocating to America had been on her mind before her death in a Paris car crash in 1997.” 

Also reflected on this season of The Crown, Diana told paparazzi to “expect a surprise move from her,” something that also happened in real life. Charles Rae, a former royal correspondent for The Sun, told Newsweek about the real-life moment where she hinted at moving to America: “They got into the speed boat,” he said. “We all looked, and we think they’re going off to The Jonikal [the Fayed yacht]. They head out, and immediately they turn, and we think to ourselves, ‘She’s coming here.’”

He continued “And she came towards us. She stopped and, as you could see with the picture, she held onto the side of the boat, and she started going on with ‘My kids want me to go to America. I’m sick and tired of everything that’s going on.’ We kept telling her, ‘If you’re upset with us being here, it’s because you’ve got the future king and his brother here, and you’re holidaying with one of Britain’s most controversial men. We’ll speak to our editors and see what they want to do.’ Six times we asked her that question, and each time she said, ‘No, that’s not what I want.’ I just put it down to that phone call. And then at the end, she gave this mysterious statement: ‘You’ll be very surprised with the next thing I do.’”

Newspaper reports from that time support Rae’s account. The Western Morning News quotes Diana as saying that William and Harry “are always urging me to live abroad,” while The Scotsman reported she said, “Maybe that’s what I should do—live abroad.” Reports also quoted her telling journalists to “expect a big surprise with the next thing I do,” although those present describe a difference in tone than The Crown portrays. “It was not an amicable conversation,” The Evening Standard reports. “Diana was getting increasingly distraught and working herself up.”

Friends and family later told the U.K. police investigating her death—codenamed Operation Paget—that Diana had considered moving to America. And, while Diana was never able to do so, Harry was, 23 years later.