Could H&M have bought a suburban semi?

[Bluemuf]

Or maybe a cottage in the woods and lived a life of obscurity, if that's what they wanted?

Harry's a rich man based on inheritances alone, they could have lived quite comfortably relative to most of us, if they'd chosen a quiet life.

I suspect it's not that simple for them, but why not?

Not a surburban semi but there are plenty of very rich and famous people who live in walled mansions, gated estates, even Central London houses and lead very private and secluded lives. It’s quite possible. People have managed to keep spouses and children completely out of the public eye for years, so they definitely could have done that.

Yes, I was thinking of fiercely private filmstars who we barely hear of between films.

I was surprised to see that the lady that was in charge of Scotland ( sorry think she was the first minister)
her house just looked like a normal house

Of course they could have bought a quiet secluded home with built in security, but it wasn't what they wanted. Did you actually believe they wanted to find freedom and privacy?

Maybe not a suburban house but they could have lived a quiet life in the UK if they'd wanted too.
The Royals have plenty estates they could have got a house, ie Notts Cottage & Frogmore Cottage

We rarely hear any thing of William and Kate outwith engagements.

I think so if he had shaved

Yep. It could have happened. But they don't want that. If you want a quiet life you don't go releasing tell all books and going on multiple tv shows. That's not going to get privacy.

Yes Nicola Sturgeon lives in a fairly modern house on a middle class estate. That did surprise me, I expected her to be in a Victorian Villa with gates.

Did they ever actually say they wanted privacy? If they did, can someone link to it? I see lots of people saying that they said this and others saying they never said it. Which is it?

I do wonder if it would have been possible to live quietly in the UK. Hard to say.

I think perhaps they don’t have as much money as we assume they do. So they need an income, especially being relatively young.

It was on a different thread recently but I was surprised at Paul McCartneys normal house, the one he's lived in for many years. Nothing out of the ordinary at all. If one of the ultra famous Beetles could live like that im sure a Royal such as Harry would have been fine.

Harry has got all this attention not because he’s doing this and that but because he was born in the royal certain family. He can’t change this so it doesn’t matter basically where he lives. Of course some places are more difficult to get into than the others but still not impossible to.

@DrunkInTennessee Meghan said on Oprah they wanted a private life and people should be allowed to have a private life. I take that as privacy. Harry said something similar about having privacy for his family.

Me too

harry would have always been news even if he tried to live the quiet life.
but as far as I’m aware that wasn’t what he wanted

You're seriously saying if they had bought a nice quiet ranch somewhere in American and quietly supported charities, rather than all the stuff they did, 3 years in, they would be getting any attention?

He inherited £10m from his mother. So no, not enough to support a lavish lifestyle forever but enough to set most of us up for life.

Would he be in the news if he wasn't doing anything newsworthy?

I'm not a world authority on What Harry And Meghan Have Said, but if they didn't say they want privacy what they've wanted all along is secrecy.

Big difference between keeping something private and keeping it secret.

It’s perfectly possible to live an extremely private and quiet life if you are a celebrity/ mega rich if that is what you choose, Meghan and Harry have Backgrid on speed dial, they absolutely court every bit of publicity.

Yes, I think the amount of attention would be different but they still would get it. it would be very different from me living quietly on a ranch.
That’s why I think they were a bit naive in the run away to America.

They just remind me of “don’t look at my I’m shy” lady:

They never wanted privacy - always wanted to have public influencer lives

The degree to which that’s to build wealth and celebrity for the sake of it, rather than simply to do good, is the bit that’s open to question.

There are plenty of places where the rich and famous are largely ignored by their non-rich and famous neighbors. I’ve lived in one of those places and had those neighbors. There is a strong sense of social etiquette that people should be allowed to go grocery shopping or take their kids to school without undue attention. That doesn’t mean we common types don’t notice them, but it means we don’t stare, we don’t react, and we don’t do anything but occasionally make polite chit-chat in a queue the same as we would with anyone else.

I didn’t grow up in this area, I moved there as a young adult and it took me all of 2 minutes to figure out how to behave. My first clue was the hole in the wall restaurant that had a sign posted that anyone taking a photo on the property would be charged $10,000. The place valued the celebrity clientele who could often be found waiting for an order with the rest of us.

h&m absolutely could have blended into a community if they wanted a private life.

So they didn’t actually say they wanted privacy of that they left for privacy?

Saying they want a private life seems to have been interpreted as they should never do anything publicly again. I think they’re different things.

Jackie Onassis lived a pretty quiet life in NYC. If she can manage it, and she was a much, much bigger name than the Sussexes, then Harry should gave had no problem. He managed to travel back and forth to Canada seeing Meghan without being noticed.