During the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Oprah interview, they kind of oversold the idea that they never wanted to move out of the UK, that they never had plans to Sussexit before the situation became so dire for them in the fall and winter of 2019. I’m not saying that they were lying, but I do believe they oversold the “we never thought about getting business deals” part of it. But the issue which had a lot more nuance and backstory was the history behind “did Harry and Meghan want to leave the UK long before the Sussexit?” Part of it wasn’t even up to them and they weren’t even pushing many of those conversations. In the spring of 2019, there was solid, legitimate reporting that Prince William was actively arguing that Harry and Meghan needed to be exiled away from Britain, and I 100% believe that there were plans afoot to eventually send H&M away, to Canada, Australia or an African commonwealth country. Perhaps Harry & Meghan wanted to leave long before the Sussexit too, but I think that “desire” was mostly because they knew people were plotting against them.

Why am I bringing this up? Because during Meghan and Harry’s South Pacific tour, they fell in love with New Zealand and told the Governor-General that they would love to live there at some point. And that is being used as “evidence” that they were lying about always planning to live in the UK or something.

The queen’s representative in New Zealand said Prince Harry and Meghan discussed moving to the South Pacific country during their 2018 visit, more than a year before the couple stepped back from royal duties and moved to the United States.

Reddy, 67, will leave her largely ceremonial role representing the queen in New Zealand in October after a 5-year term. A lawyer who was given the honorific Dame for her services to arts and business, Reddy officially signs bills into law, presides over many public ceremonies and tours the country, meeting with various groups including Indigenous Maori.

Harry and Meghan visited New Zealand at the end of a hectic 16-day royal tour of the South Pacific, and Reddy recalled the couple as being tired.

“I remember they’d just been down to the Abel Tasman National Park when we sat down and had a drink, and they said that they could imagine living in a place like this and wondered whether we thought it would be theoretically possible. Even possible for them to have a place in New Zealand. Of course, we said ‘Sure. It would be fine. There are lots of opportunities to live in New Zealand, but that would be something that they’d have to explore.’ They were looking at how they might raise their family. And, obviously, they’ve made some decisions since.”

Reddy said she didn’t view it as a formal request for assistance but more of an informal discussion about the couple’s hopes for the future. She said the pair seemed impressed with the access to the outdoors and their interactions with New Zealanders. Still, the discussion shows the couple were considering options outside of Britain less than six months after they married and well before their eventual move to the U.S.

[From The Associated Press]

How dare two people travel to some far-flung, beautiful country and wonder aloud if they could even see themselves building a life in paradise? It’s called being on vacation! People always have those kinds of day-dreams of “I would love to live in Hawaii” or “it would be paradise to live full-time by the beach.” For the love of God. I’ve already seen some royal reporters try to use this as evidence that Harry and Meghan were clearly PLOTTING to abscond into the night and set up a sandwich shop in New Zealand.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

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