Reports suggest that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are called local villains by neighbors of the ritzy California town the couple fled to after leaving their royal roles behind via Fox News.
One Montecito resident, who has never met the couple but spoke to Vanity Fair, referred to the duo as the prince and “the starlet.”
The neighbors of the quiet Santa Barbara area attribute many of the new annoyances to Markle and Prince Harry. It includes increased housing prices, busy streets and more.
The neighborhood has seen much more tourist traffic since Markle and Harry’s arrival in 2020, anonymous residents told the outlet. The outlet also reported that several people they spoke with noted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have become local villains.
Markle’s business endeavor, American Riviera Orchard, is also located in Montecito, Vanity Fair reported. As per the outlet, a book published by the Southern Pacific Company rail lines in 1898 states, “The Montecito is known as the American Riviera.” However, that honor reportedly now belongs to Santa Barbara.
“It’s such a kind of hucksterism,” a resident told Vanity Fair. “It’s just finding every way she can to monetize something.
“I still think they’re the most entitled, disingenuous people on the planet,” the resident added. “They moved away from England to get away from the scrutiny of the press, and all they do is try and get in the press in the United States.”
Meanwhile, their celebrity neighbor, Sharon Stone, praised the couple’s arrival.
“You know, the thing about them that is so great is they didn’t come here to live off of our community. They came here to be a part of our community,” she told Access Hollywood in 2020.
“My friend said she was sitting in her car, and they bicycled across the street and waved at her while she was sitting at the red light,” she recalled. “They’re a part of our community. They’ve become a giving, caring, participating part of our community. They’re not here to be like, ‘Would you like to kiss my butt?'”
Montecito has been home to a handful of celebrities, including Natalie Portman, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Adam Levine, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Keaton and Oprah.
Markle and Prince Harry landed a bombshell Netflix contract months after establishing Montecito as their home in 2020. They first released their docuseries, “Harry & Meghan,” in 2022. The show earned the biggest one-day audience for any Netflix series since monitoring began in October 2022. A year later, they followed up with the “Heart of Invictus” docuseries in 2023 and produced “Polo” in 2024.
