Prince Harry Says California Is "One of the Places My Mom Was Going to End Up Living, Potentially"

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By now, you've likely also binged the second installment of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan. In which case, congrats! We can officially swap notes and talk about the show's most revelatory moments, including Harry confirming the decades-old suspicion that his late mother, Princess Diana, had plans to settle in California prior to her tragic death.

In one of the final moments of the Netflix docuseries, the Duke of Sussex drives along a California highway reflecting on what he's left behind in the U.K. "I miss the weird family gatherings when we all get together under one roof for certain times of the year. Being part of the institution meant that I was in the U.K., so I miss the U.K., I miss my friends…I've lost a few friends in this process as well," he muses before adding, "I came here because I was changed. I changed to the point that I'd outgrown my environment, therefore this was the most obvious places to come." And finally: "This is one of the places my mum was going to end up living, potentially, you know."

A refresher: For years, people have speculated that Princess Diana considered a new life in the Golden State before she tragically died—which became known thanks to her former butler, Paul Burrell, in his book A Royal Duty. He said Diana even picked out a home in Malibu for herself, Prince William, and Prince Harry to share together.

"A lovely house…saw all the plans for it. It was going to be in Malibu," Paul said all the way back in a 2003 interview on Good Morning America. "I saw the plans...We sat on the floor, spread out all the maps and the layout of the house," he continued, noting that Diana specifically wanted to move into Julie Andrews's old home. What's more? According to Paul, the late royal apparently seemed to enjoy the fact that "'nobody's judgmental here in America, you don't have the class system, you don't have the establishment.'"

As for what the Duke of Sussex suspects his mother would have thought of his own move to California alongside his wife Meghan Markle? Harry himself answers that Q in the May 2021 doc The Me You Can’t See, in which he confesses he has "no doubt" Diana "would be incredibly proud” of his decisions and his life in the U.S.

"I’m living the life that she wanted to live for herself, living the life that she wanted us to be able to live...Not only do I know that she’s incredibly proud of me, but that she’s helped me get here and I’ve never felt her presence more as I have done over the last year."

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