Meet the royals living totally split lives from sunny Portugal to the quiet Cotswolds

In 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan moved to Montecito, California. The couple made the move stateside, two years after they married in 2018 and the same year they made the decision to step back from official royal duties. 

Their home in the US was reported to be a $29 million mansion with nine bedrooms, which they shared with their two children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5. In a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, Meghan shared that she felt she was “being silenced” by other members of the Royal Family as one of the factors for their departure. 

It was announced in August 2026 that Harry, 41, and Meghan, 45, would be moving back across the pond for an extended period. They will remain private individuals and have chosen to live outside London, with their children starting school in September. Despite their move back to the UK, there are no current plans for either Prince Harry or Meghan to resume their roles as working royals.

Having a sunny European abode is the dream for many, and Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank seem to be living it. The couple have been residing in Portugal since 2022 with their two sons, August, 5, and Ernest, 3, and look set to remain there for the foreseeable future. They split their time between the UK and Portugal, but when you live on the idyllic European coast, would you move back?

Their home is at the CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club after Jack worked with property master Mike Meldman. Where Jack, 40, and Eugenie, 36, live on the beachfront, there are incredible views and strict privacy regulations across the area. On the Table Manners podcast in 2023, Eugenie said: “I can go to the supermarket in my exercise gear and my hair piled on my head and not mind. Not care. No one cares.”

After making the move to Washington D.C. in 2023, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie of Denmark appeared to have left their days in Denmark behind. However, in February 2026, it was announced in an interview with Danish magazine BILLED-BLADET that the family will be returning home.

Currently, Joachim, 57, and Marie, 54, lead a split life, with the move scheduled for August 2027 when the Prince’s contract as defence industry attaché comes to an end. In the interview, Princess Marie confirmed that the family wanted to remain in the US so their two children, Henrik, 16, and Athena, 14, can complete their schooling. 

Another royal family who lived in the States for a while was Princess Madeleine and her household, who resided in Florida. The royal and her husband, Christopher O’Neill, relocated back to their home country of Sweden in 2024 alongside their three children: Princess Leonore, 12, Prince Nicolas, 11, and Princess Adrienne, 8.

Over the course of their relationship, the couple have relocated numerous times. Christopher, 52, was an American financier originally based in New York. Madeleine, 44, lived there during the early years of their marriage before moving to Stockholm in 2015 and relocating to London later that year, as HELLO! reported ahead of their transatlantic move to Florida. 

The middle daughter of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima enjoys a well-balanced life split between palace duties and her studies. Princess Alexia, 21, is currently studying Science & Engineering for Social Change at University College London, meaning she resides in the UK rather than in the Netherlands with her parents.

In 2026, she joined her family for royal engagements such as the Dutch Grand Prix after being largely absent from the spotlight to focus on her education. However, as September arrives, Alexia will likely step back once again as she returns to university in London.

Queen Mary experienced the ultimate overseas relocation when she traded the Tasmanian bush for Copenhagen. Today, Mary, 54, resides at Fredensborg Palace in Denmark with her husband, King Frederik X, 58, but her childhood was spent immersed in nature. “I spent a lot of time out in the bush, in the forest,” she said during a televised interview with Danish landscape host Søren Vester on the show Søren Vester’s Garden in 2025, reflecting on the sharp contrast between her past and present. “Where I lived, there was forest on one side and beach on the other. How lucky can you be? I had it all.”

Mary relocated to Denmark in 2001 after her relationship with then-Crown Prince Frederik became public. Appreciating the distinctive appeal of both landscapes, she explained: “Tasmania is dramatic, or varied, with rainforest and bush and cliffs and mountains. Denmark is a country with flat expanses and flat landscapes and forests and coastlines and fields.” 

Dividing their time between lavish properties across the globe, Prince Pavlos and Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece lead an undeniably luxurious lifestyle. Alongside their five children – Princess Maria-Olympia, 30,  Prince Constantine-Alexios, 27, Prince Achileas-Andreas, 26, Prince Odysseas-Kimon, 21, and Prince Aristidis-Stavros, 18 – Pavlos, 59 and Marie-Chantal, 57, frequently jet-hop between their international residences.

Their impressive property portfolio includes a base in Chelsea, London, alongside homes in New York, the Cotswolds, Harbour Island in the Bahamas, and an estate in Yorkshire. According to Greek City Times in January 2025, they also purchased a 300-square-metre apartment in Athens near the Presidential Mansion, perhaps signalling that they are preparing to settle back into life in the Greek capital.