One of Britain’s top columnists has visited Montecito ahead of Prince Harry’s 40th birthday on September 15. But she could find virtually trace of the exiled royal in the wealthy California enclave.

By contrast, Jan Moir said Meghan Markle is often seen lunching in the restaurants in Montecito, home to dozens of celebrities who want to escape the goldfish bowl of Hollywood.

In her Daily Mail feature, Moir asked: “How does he fit in, what does he do all day?” She speculated that he spends his time on school runs, meditation sessions (which he “never skips”, apparently) and Zoom meetings, as well as feeding the couple’s rescue chickens.

She writes: “Yet amid the sunshine and the palm trees, does Harry ever wonder if he has escaped one prison only to end up trapped in another? Down among the eucalyptus trees and bougainvillea-draped lanes of Montecito, the Duchess of Sussex is often seen lunching with friends or visiting the farmers’ market to sample honey and buy flowers.

READ MORE: ‘Thick’ Prince Harry and his wife ‘just don’t get it’ that they are not wanted, says William’s pal

“The Duke, on the other hand, keeps a much lower profile, moving through the coveted 93108 postcode like a ghost or someone in a witness protection programme. Which, in its own odd way, is almost true.”

Moir, 66, also punctured some of the assumptions that readers in the UK might have about life in southern California. In 2022, Harry told New York Magazine that they enjoyed walks on the beach “which is so close” to their home.

She writes: “Well, it is and it isn’t. From their home, the beach is three miles away and on the other side of the six-lane 101 freeway, the main route between Los Angeles and San Francisco.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex – who say they cannot return to the UK without taxpayer-funded police protection – live in a “gated home inside a gated estate called Riven Rock, which itself is surrounded by tall hedges and ‘handcrafted’ stone walls”.

They relocated to Montecito in 2020 after deciding to quit royal life, before firing a number of bombshells back across the Pond including accusations of racism and a raft of damaging revelations in Harry’s infamous memoir, Spare.

Moir asks: “Prince Harry’s reward for this treachery is living the American dream, right down to the five-car garage, the azure swimming pool and the orange and lemon trees in his own citrus grove. Yet there must be moments when even he wonders if the juice was worth the squeeze.”

KINDLY CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATSAPP COMMUNITY FOR FREE, GET THE LATEST ON THE GO HERE