Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may have quietly disappeared from their Montecito neighborhood, but one former neighbor certainly did not hold back when asked about the couple’s sudden departure.

Former Beach Boy Bruce Johnston had some remarkably blunt words for Harry, and probably a joke or two for Prince William. The legendary artist described his former neighbor as a “jerk” and suggested that the prince now has some serious family business to attend to back in Britain.

For Johnston, Harry’s move across the Atlantic is not simply about a change of scenery. He believes the prince may have an opportunity to repair some of the damage done to his relationship with his family — particularly with his older brother, Prince William.

“I’m sure that Harry has gone back to tell his brother he’s sorry for being a jerk,” Johnston told the media during an outing in the Santa Barbara neighborhood.

It is the kind of comment that immediately grabs attention because it comes from someone who actually lived in the same exclusive California community as Harry and Meghan.

Johnston did not stop there. “His father is not well and William is going to be King, so he needs to make amends,” he added. That is a pretty brutal assessment of the situation.

Rather than portraying Harry’s return to Britain as simply a glamorous royal homecoming, Johnston appears to see it as a moment when the prince needs to confront the consequences of years of family tension.

Harry’s relationship with William has been strained for years, with the brothers repeatedly finding themselves on opposite sides of one of the most public family disputes in modern royal history.

Johnston also admitted that, despite living near Harry and Meghan, he never really knew what was happening inside their world.

In fact, he claimed that “no one really knows why they left — apart from Oprah.” That remark opens another fascinating window into the Sussexes’ Montecito life.

Johnston claimed Harry and Meghan were frequently around Oprah Winfrey, another high-profile resident of the area. “They were at her home all the time,” Johnston claimed. “I live opposite Oprah too.”

Harry and Meghan lived in a community where famous names are hardly unusual. Yet according to Johnston, the Sussexes managed to maintain an unusually low profile among their own neighbors.

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He acknowledged that when he did see them, they appeared happy. “They did look happy,” he said. But the couple apparently kept their distance. “They kept themselves to themselves,” Johnston added.

That description is consistent with the image Harry and Meghan have often presented since leaving Britain: a family determined to create a private life away from the relentless attention surrounding the Royal Family.

But their version of privacy comes with an obvious complication. They are not ordinary private citizens. They are two of the most recognizable people on the planet.

And that means even something as mundane as filling up a car can become a memorable sight for a neighbor. Johnston recalled one such encounter involving the couple’s security team.

“I was scared when I saw their bodyguards with guns, however, filling up their car with gas,” he claimed. For someone accustomed to seeing celebrities in Santa Barbara, that apparently left an impression.

Security has always been one of the most sensitive issues surrounding Harry and the subject has remained particularly contentious whenever he returns to Britain.

Sources close to Harry and Meghan have pushed back against criticism of their security arrangements, explaining that they did not inform the children’s school about their departure in advance because of security concerns. Their side also noted that bodyguards accompanying celebrity children on school runs are not unusual.

That explanation offers a very different perspective from the one offered by some former neighbors. To Johnston, the heavy security presence was striking.

To Harry and Meghan, it is presumably part of the reality of raising two children while living under extraordinary public scrutiny.

And that may be the real dividing line between the Sussexes and the people who once lived around them. For Harry and Meghan, privacy and security are necessities.

For their neighbors, the couple were famous people living behind enormous gates, surrounded by security and rarely seen. Now they are gone.

The family has reportedly shifted its attention back toward Britain, with the children’s education playing an important role in the move. And as Harry settles into life closer to his father and brother, Johnston believes the prince has something far more important to deal with than simply finding a new home.

He needs to make amends. “His father is not well and William is going to be King, so he needs to make amends,” Johnston said.

It is a remarkably direct message from a man who once lived just a short distance away. Harry may have left Montecito behind, but his former neighbor’s parting words are following him home: “sorry for being a jerk.”

Whether Harry sees it that way is another question entirely. But after years of family drama, public accusations and an increasingly complicated relationship with the Royal Family, Johnston’s blunt assessment highlights the enormous challenge waiting for Harry in Britain.

The Montecito chapter may be closing. The family chapter, however, is far from over.