Harry moved to $14.65M Montecito home with Meghan because he 'absolutely hated' living in Los Angeles
In March this year, reports emerged that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle finally moved to California. The couple was put up in multi-hyphenate Tyler Perry's eight-bedroom and 12-bath Tuscan-style Beverly Hills estate since then. In May, the Daily Beast reported that Harry and Meghan were worried about their family's safety after multiple incidents involved drones at their temporary abode.
Since then there were a lot of speculations that the couple would move to a place that was more private and reports emerged earlier this week that the Sussexes have found just the right place to move to. "They have settled into the quiet privacy of their community since their arrival and hope that this will be respected for their neighbors, as well as for them as a family," their rep said in a statement on August 11. The couple moved out of Perry's mansion in mid-July.
Us Weekly reported that a source revealed that the decision to move out of Los Angeles was taken because "Harry absolutely hated it — the timing was so wrong amid the [coronavirus] pandemic and they lacked privacy." During the couple's stay at the Beverly Hills estate, there were a number of drone-related incidents, all of which were reported to authorities.
There were incidents in which paparazzi photographers have reportedly flown drones as low as 20 feet above the property in order to snap photos of the couple and their one-year-old son, Archie. There was a drone incident on Memorial Day when they were outside with Archie at their pool. Photos and videos of the couple with their dogs outside their home were also published.
Their new home in the Montecito community of Santa Barbara, California, is a Mediterranean-style house that was built in 2003. Variety reported that Harry and Meghan purchased the house in mid-June and it costs $14.65 million. It was also reported that they took out a $9.5 million mortgage to purchase the house. The 18,671-square-foot property is located on a private, gated street. The estate has nine bedrooms and 16 baths and also includes a guest-house, a library, a gym, saunas, a home theater, a game room, a tennis court and a swimming pool.
Moving to Montecito wasn't a tough call for the couple and they reportedly knew it was the right thing to do. A source told Us Weekly, "Meghan visited Montecito in her teens and fell in love with the picturesque scenery and stunning architecture" and "moving there was always an option," for the couple. However, both of them wanted to give Los Angeles a shot when they initially moved to the States.
"Harry and Meghan looked at a handful of houses in the Santa Barbara area but fell in love with their "dream home" [in Montecito] the moment they laid eyes on it," revealed a source to the outlet about their new home. An insider also revealed that even though Harry and Meghan are further removed from the area they intended to be based in, their career plans remain unaffected. "An added bonus is that Montecito is only just over an hour's drive from LA, which is where a majority of their work is based, yet far enough away to escape the crowds, paparazzi, and tourism in Hollywood," said the insider.