Prince Harry, Meghan Markle to spend Christmas at new home; will travel to UK later

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be spending the new year in the United Kingdom, but won't be arriving early in the country to spend the Christmas with Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the British royal family at Sandringham.

Instead, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will celebrate Christmas with their son Archie at their newly-bought mansion in Montecito neighbourhood in Santa Barbara, sources claimed to Vanity Fair. It will be the second year in a row the Sussexes will miss Christmas with the queen, having spent their last holiday with Meghan's mother Doria Ragland and their son Archie in Canada. Their last holiday was also shortly followed by their bombshell announcement to quit as working royals.

The couple is expected to return to England towards the end of this year, ahead of the hearing in the privacy suit filed by the former American actress against British tabloids which will open in a UK court on Jan. 11, 2021. As the current guidelines for the prevention of COVID-19 illness in the UK require people arriving from a foreign state (except those on travel corridor) to quarantine for two weeks, Harry and Meghan will have to reach the country in December to isolate ahead of the first hearing.

Vanity Fair's Katie Nicholl said that the couple is excited for their first Christmas in California and thus will not leave for the UK until a few days later, which will still give them two-weeks time to isolate ahead of the court case.

The royal expert added that the news would likely be "disappointing" for Harry's grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, who hasn't yet gotten a chance to celebrate Christmas with her great-grandson Archie. The monarch hasn't seen the toddler for almost a year, as the Sussexes didn't bring him along for their last engagement as a working royals in March.

A source reiterated that the couple will likely travel to the UK between Christmas and the New Year, explaining: "Global travel has been made very complicated by the coronavirus pandemic and at the moment the Duke has no plans to travel back to the UK, certainly not before Christmas." Upon their arrival, the couple will isolate for two weeks at their UK home Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, which is close to Windsor Castle where the queen is currently staying.