Meghan and Harry, the Duchess and Duke of Sussex, have relocated to the UK as non-working royals and most interestingly, it’s believed that they are basing themselves in the Cotswolds, where they lived as newlyweds between 2018 and 2019. Parents at an unnamed private school in the area were contacted about new rules appearing to reference the Sussexes’ children. And then, last week came reports that Meghan had been spotted at Soho Farmhouse, an outpost of the exclusive private members’ club Soho House which functions as a luxury Cotswolds retreat.

But Meghan is only the latest American to set up life in the Cotswolds. Talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres moved there in 2024 with her wife, actress Portia Rossi, for a “simpler way of life”. She left her 43-acre estate after reportedly living in it for just a month, because it wasn’t big enough for Rossi’s horses. Taylor Swift supposedly rented a £3.3m property near Great Tew during her Eras tour in 2024, while Beyoncé and Jay Z have been spotted staying on a private estate in the area. Even A-listers who visit briefly, like Tom Cruise, frequent Soho Farmhouse. The English countryside has become a playground for rich Americans.

This exodus of wealthy Americans since Donald Trump’s re-election and a weakening of the pound has shaken up the local property market. Last year, Savills said the proportion of North Americans buying Cotswold properties above £1.5m quadrupled from its long-term average of 3.5 per cent to 13 per cent. In March, the Cotswolds office of The Buying Solution, an agency which specialises in properties over £2m, said they had already recorded a 50 per cent year-on-year increase in American clients since the start of this year.Sure, the Cotswolds has, to a degree, always been........

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