What happened to Harry and Meghan's American dream?

When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit working for the Royal Family in 2020 and moved to California, they brought something even Hollywood can't manufacture: royalty.

But while Harry and Meghan enjoyed some success in showbusiness, their Hollywood reign proved short-lived and California has greeted news of their departure back to the UK with a shrug.

In pursuing their American dream, they said they were seeking more than financial independence.

In their 2021 blockbuster interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan described the freedom to make her own choices as "liberating".

Harry later said America offered his family a degree of privacy and freedom they "undoubtedly wouldn't be able" to enjoy in the UK - and that it was the life his mother, Diana, would have wanted for him.

The couple settled in Montecito - a celebrity enclave a few hours north of Los Angeles with neighbours like Oprah Winfrey, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rob Lowe.

"They were so sought after, they were names that would hit the press and command attention right away," says Stacy Jones, chief executive of Hollywood Branded, a marketing and PR agency.

"There are endless parties, endless events and endless things to do if you are a celebrity inside Hollywood," she says. "But you soon realise that all those endless things are promoting something to sell."

LA-based royal watcher and journalist Elizabeth Holmes, who wrote HRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style, says: "I think part of why this [the Sussexes leaving the US] was surprising to me was just because it did feel like they were sort of settling into their life in California."

Not everyone is sad to see them go. The New York Post, often scathing about the couple, greeted the news of their departure with the headline "Throne Back!", declaring that America's "long national nightmare is over".

The tabloid mockery was largely dismissive of the couple's rare achievement in Hollywood. They managed something most newcomers to Tinseltown never do: persuading some of its biggest companies to invest heavily in them.

Attracting that initial investment proved easier than sustaining it, however.

Their multi-year Spotify deal, reported to be worth up to $25m (£18.3m), produced Meghan's 12-episode podcast Archetypes, featuring guests such as Serena Williams and Mariah Carey.

Harry and Meghan are experts in surprise - but why are they returning to UK now?