Just some thoughts
- Admin
- 20 hours ago
- 5 min read
Okay, I want to make it abundantly clear that this post is not an invitation to disparage, talk negatively, troll, or just generally be unpleasant in any regard. I’m fine with constructive and polite debate and conversation but if I think you are rude, negative, or generally unpleasant then I will block you.
While everyone writes articles and threads and substacks and blogs and posts videos and whatever else about this situation, there is one thing I haven’t seen anyone mention yet about the Sussex’s decision to move back to the U.K. for the kids schooling and that is the school schedule.
Generally speaking, across the U.K. and U.S. the school schedule looks something like this:
United Kingdom | |
Summer Holiday | ~6 weeks (Mid-July to Early September) |
Term Starts | Early September |
Autumn Half Term | ~1 week (late October) |
Christmas Holiday | ~3 weeks (Mid-December to Early January |
Spring Half Term | ~1 week (mid-February) |
Easter Holiday | ~3 weeks (late March or April) |
Summer Half Term | ~1 week (late May or early June) |
Term Ends | Mid-July |
United States | |
Summer Break | ~12 weeks (Late May to Late August) |
Term Starts | Mid-August |
Labor Day | 3 Day weekend (September) |
Thanksgiving Break | ~3 to 5 days (Late November) |
Winter Break | ~2 weeks (between Christmas and New Years) |
MLK Day | 3 Day weekend (January) |
Mid-Winter Break | ~1 week (February) |
Spring Break | ~1 week (Late March or April) |
Memorial Day | 3 Day weekend (May) |
Term Ends | Late May or Early June |
Note: there is obviously going to be some variation in these schedules based on different regions, school level, and type of school (private, public, independent, state, international, charter, etc.) so if your school schedule differed from this, that is fine and I am not saying this is the definitive schedule across these countries. This is just a generalized schedule for across the United Kingdom and the United States. | |
The reason I bring this up is because overall the U.K. has fewer school holidays but their holidays (apart from summer) tend to be longer than the U.S. school holidays.
Let’s quickly return to the Sussex’s original statement from their 2020 announcement on Instagram. They original said that the want to “…balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America… This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter.”
If the goal is to balance time between the U.K. and the U.S. it would, objectively, make more sense for the kids to go to school in the United Kingdom. The longer breaks throughout the year would allow the family to travel back for longer and more meaningful lengths of time than if the kids only were getting a long weekend or a week off roughly once a month.
I also bring this up because I am already seeing people talk about “Will they go to Sandringham for Christmas?” or “Will they be at Windsor for Easter?” Granted, these questions have popped up every single year since 2020 because the press knows that the articles get good engagement and it’s easy to churn these pieces out since they’ve basically published the same will they/won’t they articles annually for the last six years (and yes, that is me taking a swipe at the frankly lazy reporting from the press on these issues for the last half a decade because its tired and its boring and they should do better).
But, in my own opinion, it’s not a discussion that needs to happen either now or later. I obviously don’t know Harry or Meghan but based on what they’ve said in the past and what was said when this news came out (“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are relocating with Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, to the U.K. for an extended period beginning this month, PEOPLE understands, with the children set to begin school there in September.”), if this move is about giving their kids a balance between the two countries, then my guess is that they’ll be spending longer breaks back in the United States which means they wouldn’t even be in the United Kingdom for major holidays.
Given that this is not a permanent move according to their spokespeople (they specifically said that this relocation is just for “an extended period” which doesn’t give me the impression that this is going to be permanent) think this is also a trial period for them to see if returning on school breaks to their California residence is going to be a tenable solution for them moving forward or if their businesses and commercial pursuits are going to require them to come up with a different solution.
The other reason I think that they will probably be returning to California every school break is because both Harry and Meghan have made it clear through the years how close they are to Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland. Given that (based on all the reporting) Doria will be remaining in California, I think that indicates the plan is that they will be returning to Montecito regularly and I’m sure Doria will visit them when she is able to as well.
The final thing I am going to say about this is specifically in regards to Archie and Lilibet. I grew up with a big family and a lot of cousins all around me and to this day my cousins and I are still close. I routinely see my cousins kids (who I call my nieces and nephews because the technical first cousins once removed thing is too complicated) and I love spending time with them, getting to be part of my nieces and nephews lives and watching them grow up. I value my relationships with my cousins so much and I love getting to spend time with them whether its one-on-one or with the whole family.
That being said, two of my cousins who were closest in age to me lived overseas for a large part of my childhood. We were super lucky enough to spend summers with them and go on trips together and luckily skype was invented by then so we were able to schedule calls with them (but yes, this was long before FaceTime and cellular plans with international calling were super expensive).
But I am going to be blunt that having my cousins live so far away from us (even though we had a lot of other family nearby) completely sucked. Every single summer when they left, we cried our eyes out and I missed them so much when they were gone. Obviously, the world is more connected now than it was twenty years ago but there is so much you don’t realize you miss when you don’t physically get to be there with your family.
As such, I have a lot of sympathy for all of the kids in this situation and I hope that this will be a positive for them. I sincerely hope that this is a good solution for the family and that the Sussex’s can enjoy their time in the United Kingdom, especially Archie and Lilibet since Harry has always made it clear he wants his kids to know his homeland and I think it will be special for Archie and Lilibet to be able to spend time with their cousins.
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