According to a spokesman for the royal couple, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan purchased a new house in Santa Barbara, California, a coastal town approximately 100 miles north of Los Angeles, last month.

“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved into their family home in July of this year,” said a source acquainted with the situation but not allowed to comment publicly. “They have settled into the quiet privacy of their community since their arrival and hope that this will be respected for their neighbors, as well as for them as a family.”

The Sussexes’ Santa Barbara move follows the couple’s two significant relocations earlier this year. After declaring their intention to break away from the royal family back in January, Harry, Meghan, and their newborn son, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, spent time in a secluded area of Vancouver Island, Canada, before traveling to Meghan’s home town of Los Angeles. According to People, the couple briefly lived at Tyler Perry’s Beverly Hills house while looking for a new family home.

The media’s burning questions, such as whether they bought or rented, how much they spent, who paid for it, and how near they are to Oprah Winfrey’s beautiful estate in exclusive Montecito, remain unanswered for the time being.

The huge home was built in 2003 and is fenced and guarded from the street. The main residence is about 14,500 square feet (1,350 square meters) and includes nine bedrooms, a billiards/game room, a home theater, spa facilities, an elevator, and a gym.

Since relocating to the West Coast and adapting to life overseas, the Sussexes have stayed committed to their charity activities. Despite keeping a low public profile owing to the continuing coronavirus epidemic, the pair has found time to meet with Black resistance groups, give virtual graduation speeches, and assist with local charity.

Because of what happened at their rented mansion in Beverly Ridge Estates in the hills above Los Angeles: endless dronerazzi swooping low over the backyard to capture photos of baby Archie, who turned one in May, it makes sense that Harry and Meghan’s reps in California would be tight-lipped about the exact location of their new digs.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the seller was a limited liability corporation linked to Russian businessman Sergey Grishin. Grishin formerly owned another Montecito home, the Scarface estate.

Harry and Meghan were so concerned by numerous spying drones, controlled reportedly by paparazzi, they launched a lawsuit last month against unidentified photographers to block the “disgusting and wrong” sale of a picture they think was taken of Archie in their yard.

The pair has been searching for a family home since announcing their intention to leave royal responsibilities and go to North America, citing what they described as unwelcome interference and racial views in the British media.

Since the Sussexes declared in January that they were leaving their royal duties and going to North America in pursuit of greater freedom and privacy, they have been hardly seen in public, owing in part to the pandemic quarantine. So they’re probably relieved that they were able to relocate to Santa Barbara in July without news getting out until mid-August.