Key Takeaways
- Meghan Markle met longtime friends and former Montecito neighbors Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi at an Oxfordshire pub less than a month after returning to Britain.
- She and Prince Harry have enrolled Archie and Lilibet in a British school while maintaining the family’s ties to California.
- Meghan plans to stay active with As ever and Archewell Philanthropies, and she has discussed a possible role in Season 3 of Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen.
Meghan Markle has been back in Britain for less than a month, and she's already doing one of the most British things possible: meeting friends at the pub.
According to People, the Duchess of Sussex was photographed hanging out with longtime pals Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi at The Three Horseshoes, an 18th-century pub near Burford, Oxfordshire, on Monday afternoon, September 21. The outing brought together three former Montecito neighbors who are now spending at least part of their lives in the English countryside.
And while Meghan was pubbing in Oxfordshire, Prince Harry had business in London. The Duke of Sussex attended the WellChild Awards that same day, continuing a busy run of appearances since he and Meghan returned to the U.K. with Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, on Aug. 26.
Meghan hasn't made an official public appearance since the family's move, but she hasn't exactly been hiding at home either. She and Harry were previously spotted at Soho Farmhouse, also in Oxfordshire, and an insider told People that Meghan plans to be “out and about” as she gets reacquainted with British life.
DeGeneres and de Rossi may be particularly useful company on that front. Harry and Meghan became friendly with the couple while they were neighbors in Montecito, and Meghan memorably appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2021. But DeGeneres and de Rossi made their own move across the Atlantic in November 2024, swapping California for the Cotswolds.
That two-country lifestyle now looks familiar to the Sussexes.
A source previously said Harry wants his children to understand “the world he grew up in and where their family comes from,” while Meghan reportedly feels “very fortunate” that they can experience both their father's British upbringing and her California roots.
Meghan also isn't abandoning her professional life. She’s expected to continue running As ever, and working with Archewell Philanthropies, while talks have also taken place about a possible role in Season 3 of Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen.
