Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s six years in America are usually measured through Netflix contracts, Spotify podcasts, lifestyle ventures and their sprawling Montecito home. But another, far more intriguing thread runs through their California story: their proximity to American political power.

That makes one episode from 2020 particularly interesting now that the Sussexes are reportedly preparing to return to Britain.

According to a Daily Mail article by Stephen M. Lepore, Meghan has denied claims that she wanted to become a US Senator after moving to California. The allegation, originally reported by the New York Post, centres on a confirmed meeting between Harry, Meghan and California Governor Gavin Newsom on October 19, 2020.

Newsom’s office described it as an “introductory meeting.” What was actually discussed has never been publicly established.

That distinction matters.

Sources cited by the Post claimed Meghan wanted the encounter presented as a “welcome-to-California” meeting. But they also alleged something considerably more ambitious: that Meghan was interested in the US Senate seat Kamala Harris would vacate if Joe Biden won the presidential election and Harris became vice president.

A source speaking for Meghan denied that account, saying the Duchess did not want Harris’s Senate seat.

The position ultimately went to California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who subsequently won a full six-year term in 2022.

So there is no established evidence in the article that Meghan actually lobbied Newsom for the appointment. What exists is a confirmed meeting, an allegation about its possible political significance, and a clear denial from Meghan’s side.

But it is not the only Washington-related episode described in the report.

The Post also alleged that Harry and Meghan sought a meeting with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office in 2021. According to Biden sources, White House officials rejected the idea because of the diplomatic complications it could create with the British government and Royal Family.

The President and First Lady Jill Biden reportedly:

“didn’t want to get into a family squabble.”

Their affection for Queen Elizabeth II was cited as another factor.

An even more extraordinary request was allegedly made following the Queen’s funeral. The Sussexes were said to have asked whether they could return to the United States with the Bidens aboard Air Force One.

That request, according to the source, was also rejected.

Again, these are reported claims rather than publicly confirmed accounts from Harry and Meghan. But taken together, they illustrate the unusual position the Sussexes occupied in America. They were private individuals, yet Harry remained the son of the British monarch and Meghan possessed a level of celebrity that could make seemingly personal encounters politically sensitive.

The couple also surrounded themselves with people possessing significant Democratic political experience.

According to the report, they hired consultants who had worked for Barack Obama and Biden, including former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. Harry’s current chief of staff, Miranda Barbot, is herself a former Obama staffer and was reportedly used as a conduit between the Sussexes and the White House.

A Biden source went further, claiming Harry and Meghan eventually “worn out their welcome” with the Bidens. The source pointed to the fact that neither continued attending Harry’s Invictus Games after 2021 as evidence of that cooling relationship.

That interpretation, however, remains the source’s rather than a public explanation from the Bidens.

All of this becomes more fascinating because the Sussexes’ American chapter now appears to be changing dramatically.

Harry and Meghan are reportedly preparing to return to Britain for an extended period. Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, are expected to attend school in England, while the family will establish itself in a private, non-royal residence. They could remain there while the children complete their education.

Commercially, the landscape is also different from the one that greeted them after Megxit.

Their lucrative Spotify agreement is over. Their original Netflix contract has ended. Meghan’s With Love, Meghan lasted two seasons. The glittering American commercial empire once imagined around the Sussex brand has therefore evolved into something rather different.

At the same time, Harry appears increasingly interested in rebuilding his British family connections.

Sources close to him described his reunion with King Charles last month as leaving him “buoyed,” “very happy” and “really energized.”

They added:

“He wants to spend more time in the UK with his family.”

He is apparently about to get exactly that.

Charles, who reportedly learned of the move only on Sunday, is nevertheless said to welcome the opportunity to spend more private time with his younger son and grandchildren.

But there is an important limit to this homecoming.

Harry and Meghan are not returning as working royals. Buckingham Palace’s position remains unchanged from the settlement following their departure in 2020. They will continue as private individuals and non-working members of the Royal Family.

That makes the political allegations from their American years especially revealing, even without accepting them as proven.

The Sussexes arrived in America with something few celebrities possess: proximity to royalty combined with enormous international recognition. The disputed Senate story suggests that, at least in the eyes of some observers, Meghan’s potential future once extended beyond entertainment and lifestyle branding into American political influence.

Yet the confirmed facts remain narrower. Meghan and Harry met Newsom. Meghan denies seeking Harris’s Senate seat. The other political approaches described in the report remain allegations attributed to sources.

And six years after arriving in America, the Sussexes are apparently heading back across the Atlantic.

Perhaps that is the most striking reversal of all. The question is no longer simply whether Meghan once imagined a political future in America. It is how many different futures America appeared to offer the Sussexes — Hollywood producers, media entrepreneurs, philanthropists, lifestyle figures and perhaps, according to disputed claims, something even more politically ambitious — before Britain unexpectedly became the destination again.