In 2011, while visiting the beautiful beachside city of Santa Barbara with his wife, Prince William remarked: “My father, the Prince of Wales, and my brother, Harry, were as green as that grass outside when I told them I’d be here today.”

He could hardly have imagined that little under a decade later his younger sibling would be setting up home in that very same place, following an acrimonious departure from Britain – and the working duties of the Royal Family. 

Yet, this week reports emerged that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have purchased a $10 million “family home” in the upmarket coastal city – which bills itself as the “American Riviera” – with the intention of putting down roots. A spokesperson for the couple has since confirmed the move to The Telegraph.

“This is where they want to bring Archie up,” a source revealed. “Where they hope he can have as normal a life as possible.” 

As seventh in line to the throne, whether Archie can ever enjoy a normal life – especially in California – is questionable. But, geographically at least, Santa Barbara is an ideal location for his (semi) financially-independent parents: nestled between the Pacific Ocean and Santa Ynez Mountains, it’s just an hour’s drive to Los Angeles, where Meghan still retains a business manager, and an hour’s flight to Silicon Valley. 

The latter will enable Harry easy access to the tech moguls he rubbed shoulders with at last year’s Google summit in Sicily – where the prince gave a barefoot speech about the dangers of climate change – as well as plenty of opportunities to continue his campaign against social media. Although the latter is probably unlikely to earn him an invitation to lunch at Padaro Beach Grill – one of Santa Barbara’s many celebrity haunts – with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who’s been spotted there.

Still, the couple already have a number of friends and acquaintances in the neighborhood. Oprah, who attended Harry and Meghan’s wedding in May 2018, and with whom Harry is working on a docu-series about mental health, owns a number of properties in Santa Barbara, including an $100 million estate named “Promised Land”. While Santa Barbara-born pop star Katy Perry and her fiancé, actor Orlando Bloom, have been spotted house-hunting in the area only this week.