Ex-Beach Boys member Bruce Johnston, who lives close to the Sussexes’ former £11million mansion, said the couple were at Oprah Winfrey’s nearby estate ‘all the time’
Harry and Meghan’s surprise departure from Montecito has sparked plenty of speculation – but one local resident believes Oprah Winfrey may be among the very few people who knows the real reason they left.
Former Beach Boys member Bruce Johnston, who lives close to the Sussexes’ former £11million mansion, said he was surprised by their sudden move to Britain and suggested the couple had been frequent visitors to Oprah’s nearby estate.
Bruce, 84, said: “I’m sure that Harry has gone back to tell his brother he’s sorry for being a jerk. His father is not well and William is going to be King, so he needs to make amends.
“But no one really knows why they left — apart from Oprah. They were at her home all the time — I live opposite Oprah too,” reports The Sun.
Johnston, who joined the Beach Boys in 1965, said he had only seen Harry and Meghan once during the four years he had lived nearby. He said: “You can say Bruce Johnston told you that in four years he saw them only once, in the back of their car.
“And they did look happy, but they kept themselves to themselves. I was scared when I saw their bodyguards with guns, however, filling up their car with gas.”
It comes after the Sussexes apparently left Montecito soon after Harry secured a place for seven-year-old Archie at a traditional British prep school in the Cotswolds. Five-year-old Lilibet is also attending the same school’s pre-prep.
Penny Bianchi, whose home borders Oprah’s estate, claimed the children’s California school was not expecting the move. She said: “They were waiting a while for Archie to get into the school in England.
“He wasn’t accepted for ages, but the moment he was, they practically left the next day. They just disappeared overnight.”
Sources close to Harry and Meghan said the school had deliberately not been informed for security reasons and that bodyguards were routinely used by other celebrity parents.
The Sussexes’ sudden exit has also fuelled rumours that their Montecito mansion could be sold. Local estate agent David Encell said he would be “shocked” if the couple still owned the property in a year and estimated it could command as much as £30million.
He said the 18,600sq ft home costs around £30,000 a month to maintain, while a rental could potentially bring in £110,000 a month.
There are already claims that wealthy buyers are enquiring about the property, with one estate agency employee saying it was receiving calls daily. Some potential buyers have reportedly considered demolishing the mansion to enlarge their own estates, while others have even floated the idea of turning the site into a golf course.
A neighbour also claimed there was “nothing left for them” in Montecito and suggested their lucrative Netflix arrangements had changed the couple’s position.
At local favourite The Honor Bar, a waitress recalled that Harry and Meghan had once become annoyed after allegedly being asked to join a waiting list, although staff still prepared a takeaway order for them under different names.
The couple’s future plans remain unclear. There has been speculation Harry could become a full-time father in Britain while Meghan continues travelling between the Cotswolds and California to pursue her media career.
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