Last week, the Duchess of Sussex posted the Instagram Carousel That Brought Down A Nation. The carousel featured lovely photos from Meghan’s summer holiday with her family, including pics from their trip to Portugal and their stay at Althorp, the Spencer family’s ancestral home. There were a couple of photos I struggled to place – I thought maybe all of the pool photos were from Montecito, and I guessed that the lovely, scenic photos of a lake and Archie by a wooded area were possibly from Althorp. But as it turns out, the British media failed to see what was right in front of them: the Sussex family also spent time in Scotland this month!! LMAO.
Prince Harry has not yet taken his children to Balmoral, the private royal estate in Aberdeenshire that he has described as ‘simply paradise’. He has, however, secretly taken them to a remote Scottish island owned by a hedge fund tycoon.
The Daily Mail understands that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, stayed earlier this month on Tanera Mor. The private island is said to have inspired The Wicker Man, the cult 1973 film starring Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee and Britt Ekland.
Harry is thought to have previously visited the island, which was bought for £1.7million in 2017 by billionaire Ian Wace, co-founder of hedge fund giant Marshall Wace. When Wace, 63, bought Tanera Mor, the largest of the Summer Isles, it had a population of just five, who were outnumbered by crofters’ cottages in various stages of dereliction. But the 800-acre island has since been transformed by Wace, who has poured £100million into it, planting 100,000 trees, restoring a dozen properties and laying three miles of roads. He has also revived skills such as beekeeping. But perhaps the aspect which would have most appealed to Harry is that, by last year, more than half of the 1,000 guests Tanera had hosted were from the Taigh Mor Foundation.
It’s a charity which strives to bolster the wellbeing of those serving in the armed forces or emergency services. During their time on the isle, they restore buildings, harvest seaweed, fish for mackerel or work in the kitchens or gardens. A noted philanthropist, Wace has been friendly with Harry and his brother, Prince William, for years. Wace’s then wife, former model Saffron Aldridge, 57, bonded with Meghan, 44, after the US actress moved to Britain to live with Harry.
In 2019, the year after Meghan married the prince, Saffron and Wace joined the couple for a Cirque du Soleil performance at the Royal Albert Hall. Meghan, it was reported at the time, appreciated that Saffron was ‘a straight talker’. The women’s mutual interest in fashion also helped. Wace and Saffron split in 2023 and have since divorced but remain friends.
The Sussexes are believed to have travelled to Scotland from Northamptonshire, where they stayed with Earl and Countess Spencer at his ancestral home, Althorp. While there, they laid flowers at the grave of Harry’s mother, Diana. During the family’s trip to Britain, they also had tea with Harry’s father, King Charles, and stepmother, Queen Camilla, at Highgrove in Gloucestershire.
A spokesman for the Duke and Duchess said: ‘This is not something we would comment on.’
A spokesman for Wace also declined to comment.
It’s really amazing to me that the Sussexes were able to move around the UK without being tracked and photographed by the press and paparazzi. Like, I can only imagine the fury of those tabloid editors that they didn’t manage to get photos of Meghan and the children at any point – coming or going from Highgrove, their five days at Althorp, and now this, what sounds like several days in Scotland, at least. I love that they were able to visit with friends up in Scotland. What a lovely summer vacation they had.
This is another reminder of the Windsors’ creepy obsession with getting Harry (specifically) to Balmoral. For years now, they’ve tried to get Harry alone and isolated at Balmoral. Just minutes after QEII’s death in 2022, King Charles called Harry and told him that Meghan wasn’t welcome at Balmoral, and that he could not bring her. And now Richard Eden is all “Prince Harry has not yet taken his children to Balmoral.” The children have never been invited. Meghan has not been invited to Balmoral in years.
Photos courtesy of Meghan’s Instagram.
