Meghan Markle’s latest move could be one of the clearest signs yet that she is not looking back with regret at the decision to return to Britain with her family, because after six years of building a life in California, the Duchess of Sussex is reportedly considering reviving something she once intended to pursue after marrying Prince Harry: becoming a British citizen and potentially making a commitment to the country that once seemed destined to become her permanent home.

According to Radar via Yahoo, Meghan had originally intended to pursue British citizenship after marrying Harry in 2018, with Kensington Palace saying at the time that she would follow the “usual” process without special treatment, but those plans effectively disappeared after the Sussexes stepped away from royal duties and moved to California, where they began building the separate life that would eventually become the center of their public identity.

Now, however, their return to Britain has apparently changed the equation, because Meghan is again living in the country she once expected to call home, while Harry and the couple’s children, Archie and Lilibet, are also establishing a much stronger connection to Britain than they have had during most of their years in California.

A source cited by the media outlet said: “British citizenship was something Meghan genuinely expected to pursue when she married Harry. At that point she believed Britain would be her permanent home, so becoming a citizen was a natural part of building her life here.”

That sentence is particularly revealing because it places Meghan’s current situation against the life she originally imagined when she married into the Royal Family, when Britain was not simply the place where she happened to live because of Harry but was apparently viewed as the country where she expected to build her future, raise a family and establish herself as part of British public life.

Everything changed after the Sussexes left.

But six years later, Meghan is back, and this time the circumstances are remarkably different because she is not simply returning for a royal engagement, a family occasion or a short visit that will eventually end with a flight back to California; instead, the family has reportedly established a British base, their children are attending school in the UK, and the possibility of Meghan eventually pursuing citizenship raises the question of whether this return is becoming something much more permanent than anyone expected.

The source told the press that Meghan may not immediately rush to take the citizenship test, but said it is something that “could logically come back onto the table and be revived if Britain once again becomes their long-term family base.”

And that is where this story becomes much bigger than a passport application.

Because Meghan’s return to Britain is already sending a message, whether she intends it that way or not, and the possibility of citizenship makes that message even harder to dismiss because it would suggest that the country she once left behind could once again become a central part of her family’s long-term future.

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Meghan Markle will get under the King’s skin with this decision, at least symbolically, not necessarily because British citizenship would give her any royal authority or change her relationship with the monarchy, but because it could underline one of the strangest developments in the Sussex story: Meghan could establish an increasingly permanent British life while remaining completely outside the institution that once made her one of the most watched women in the country.

That distinction is already at the heart of the Sussexes’ latest chapter, because returning to Britain does not automatically mean returning to royal duties, and Radar’s report emphasizes that Harry and Meghan remain private citizens rather than working members of the Royal Family.

The source made that distinction particularly clear, saying that “returning geographically doesn’t mean Meghan and Harry have returned to the royal family,” because the two things are “completely separate.”

And that may actually be what makes the citizenship possibility so fascinating, because Meghan does not need a royal role to live in Britain, she does not need to represent King Charles to raise her children there, and she does not need to resume official duties to build a life in the country, meaning that she could potentially create the British future she once imagined without ever stepping back into the working monarchy.

For the Palace, that creates a very different situation from the one that existed before Megxit, because the question is no longer whether Meghan will perform royal duties or whether Harry will return to the institution full time, but whether the Sussexes can build a permanent British life while maintaining the independence they fought so hard to establish.

The source acknowledged just how complicated that symbolism could become, describing Meghan’s relationship with Britain as having become “incredibly difficult” and saying that choosing citizenship now would represent “a remarkable change from the circumstances in which she left.”

That is the part that makes the development so difficult to ignore.

Meghan left Britain after a period of enormous pressure, moved across the Atlantic with Harry and their young family, and spent years establishing a life in California that became closely associated with the Sussexes’ decision to step away from royal duties and operate independently.

Yet now the story has almost come full circle. The children are connected to Britain. Harry is spending more time in Britain. Meghan is spending more time in Britain.

And according to Yahoo, the citizenship idea that once disappeared after Megxit could potentially return if the country becomes their long-term family home.

Whether Meghan actually applies for citizenship remains to be seen, and there is no indication that such an application has already been made, but the possibility alone creates a remarkable reversal in the Sussex story because the woman who once walked away from Britain may now be considering making Britain part of her family’s identity on a much deeper level.

It also explains why the move can be viewed as deliberate, even if Meghan has never publicly described it that way, because choosing to establish the children in British schools, spending extended periods in the country and potentially revisiting a citizenship plan that was abandoned years ago would collectively point toward a family that is no longer treating Britain simply as a place from which it once walked away.

And perhaps that is the biggest irony of all. Meghan once appeared to be building a future somewhere else. Now she may be building a future in Britain again.

The difference is that this time she could be doing it on her own terms, outside the working monarchy, with her husband and children beside her and without needing the Palace to give her a royal role.

For King Charles, the most significant part may therefore not be the passport itself, but what the passport could represent: a Sussex family becoming increasingly rooted in Britain while remaining separate from the institution at the center of the country they have chosen to call home.

Meghan Markle may have left Britain six years ago, but if this citizenship plan is revived, the message could be unmistakable: she may have walked away from royal life, but she may have decided that she does not want to walk away from Britain after all.