The Duke and Duchess of Sussex asked the Queen’s representative in New Zealand about moving there less than six months into their life as working royals.
Harry and Meghan spoke to Dame Patsy Reddy, the governor-general. during a royal visit in autumn 2018 and asked whether it would be “theoretically possible” to live in New Zealand.
“They said that they could imagine living in a place like this and wondered whether we thought it would be theoretically possible — even possible for them to have a place in New Zealand,” Reddy told the Associated Press.
“Of course, we said, ‘Sure. It would be fine’ . . . They were looking at how they might raise their family. And obviously they’ve made some decisions since.”
Reddy said that she regarded it as an informal discussion rather than a formal request for help.
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They seemed impressed by New Zealand’s access to the outdoors and their interactions with its people, she added.
The Sussexes ultimately moved to Los Angeles but disclosed to Oprah Winfrey in February that they had considered moving to a Commonwealth country. New Zealand, South Africa and Canada were mentioned.
The royal tour of the South Pacific in October and November 2018 came shortly after their communications secretary, Jason Knauf, made a complaint of bullying against the duchess, which she denies. By January 2019 she had told her husband she was having suicidal thoughts.
They left Britain a year after their New Zealand trip. Having been on a royal tour to southern Africa, they went to north America for a break in autumn 2019 and never permanently returned.
Reddy, 67, disclosed her conversation with the couple in an interview before her term ends in October.
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She said she regularly spoke to the Queen to share her private views of affairs in New Zealand, such as its response to the coronavirus pandemic. The correspondence is “quite touchingly old-fashioned, by letter,” Reddy said. “She has told me on the times that I’ve seen her that she finds it interesting to have a personal perspective on what’s happening. As she says, ‘I like to know what’s happening between the lines’.”
Polls suggest that more than half of New Zealanders want their country to be an independent republic. Reddy agreed with Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister, that people were more concerned by issues such as climate change.
