Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are deeply in love and always protect each other, a source familiar with the couple said, but the former actress is ‘the one who makes things happen’

Meghan Markle seems to be “reparenting” Prince Harry, a source has said, after some locals in Montecito blamed the couple for changes in their neighbourhood.

A person who worked closely with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex noted the couple were deeply in love and “so hot with each other” – but they show different attitudes when they are alone and when they are in public. The source said: “You know how you meet those couples where you’re like, the way they’re looking at each other, I should probably not be here right now?”

According to the insider, Harry is “very personable” and “very at ease with people” when he is alone as, just like his mother, Princess Diana, he “has this way of, like, making people feel very comfortable.” However, the source added that when the prince is in public with his wife, “there is a circus” as he is “so protective of her because people are so nasty to her.” They added: “It’s a whole different experience.”

The insider said Meghan is ‘the one who makes things happen’ ( 
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)
In a 2019 statement Harry wrote about Meghan’s treatment by the press, he revealed his “deepest fear” of “history repeating itself” as he drew parallels between his wife and his late mother. He said: “I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”

The person familiar with the couple said that while Harry is always vigilant about Meghan’s safety, the former Suits actress is the caregiver and facilitator in the family – and is “the one who makes things happen.” Speaking to Vanity Fair, the insider said: “Pre-Meghan, Harry would just pop in [to the palace press office], ask a few questions, and leave, like he was a little bored but also very keen.”

But now Harry would not engage with the media in such a way, the source revealed, as he always has his wife’s support, and in a way she seems to be “reparenting” him. The source continued: “I can picture him meeting Meghan and being just a deep breath of, like, ‘I’ve been so exhausted, and you make everything so easy.’… I don’t want to be like, oh, it’s an Oedipus thing or whatever, but it kind of feels like she’s reparenting him in a way.”

The Sussexes’ home in Montecito, California ( 
Image:
Sotheby’s International Realty)

Harry and Meghan bought their mansion in Montecito in Santa Barbara County back in 2020, after announcing they would step down from official royal duties. They purchased the mansion for $14.65million (£12million) at the time and since then, the property’s value has increased astronomically in the nearly five years.

The property is now reportedly valued at $29million (£23.5 million) – around double what they are said to have paid for it. Several celebrities including Oprah, Leonardo DiCaprio and Gwyneth Paltrow live in Montecito, which according to a local was once a quiet area whose main characteristic was its neighbourliness.

But since Harry and Meghan moved to the area, things changed, according to local people who see the Sussexes as the local villains, Vanity Fair reported. Some of the most common complaints are the increase in housing prices and people visiting from out of town, driving too fast and taking up all the street parking located near local trails, such as the one Meghan was photographed hiking on while Harry travelled to the UK for his father’s Coronation in May 2023. According to a Montecitan who spoke to VF, since the pair moved to the area, locals can no longer just walk into restaurants for dinner as the area has become more popular.