Meghan Markle 'Could Revive' British Citizenship Bid After UK Return, Unnamed Source Tells Radar Online

LONDON — Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, could revive her long-abandoned ambition to become a British citizen following her family's return to the United Kingdom, according to an unnamed source quoted by the entertainment website Radar Online. The claim has not been confirmed by the Sussexes or their representatives, and the coverage reviewed for this article included no comment from the Home Office.

The reports say Meghan, 45, moved back to Britain in August with her husband, Prince Harry, 42, and their children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, after about six years based mainly in California. The family is establishing itself at a private, non-royal residence outside London while keeping ties to the United States, with the children starting school in Britain, according to the reports. The move, they say, has revived questions about whether she might eventually pursue the citizenship process she had been expected to follow after marrying Harry in 2018.

The idea has a history. Meghan married Harry at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, in May 2018. Kensington Palace had already made clear that she intended to follow the ordinary citizenship process rather than receive preferential treatment because she had married into the royal family. A 2018 report by China Daily noted that all would-be citizens must pass the "Life in the UK" test, answering 18 out of 24 questions selected from about 3,000 facts. In early 2020, Fox News reported that she had started the process shortly after her wedding by applying as the spouse of a British citizen, and that Harry's spokesperson had promised during the engagement that she would be in compliance with U.K. immigration law "at all times."

Those plans stalled after the couple announced in January 2020 that they intended to step back as senior royals and become financially independent. The reports note that their proposed "half-in, half-out" arrangement was rejected after a summit at Sandringham with Queen Elizabeth II, and that the couple stopped carrying out official engagements before moving to North America. Even in 2020, coverage noted the practical difficulty: under Home Office rules, applicants must not have spent more than 270 days outside the country in the three years before applying, according to The Telegraph.

The current claims rest on a single anonymous source. That person told Radar Online that citizenship was long on Meghan's mind. "British citizenship was something Meghan genuinely expected to pursue when she married Harry. At that point she believed Britain would be her permanent home, so becoming a citizen was a........

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