Neighbors of Harry and Meghan Speak Out

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, who have spent the last two years living in their 15-bedroom Tuscan-style house in Montecito, California, were offered a friendly gesture, but they declined it. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s neighbor, 88-year-old US Navy veteran Frank McGinity, wanted to welcome the royal couple to the neighborhood by showing them some of his films about the background of the elite California community.

McGinity wrote in his autobiography, “Get Off Your Street,” about his encounter with the mudslides that had wreaked havoc in the neighborhood just a few years before Meghan and Harry moved in. The younger couple’s decision to reside in the Riven Rock Estate, a residence that typically draws considerably older buyers and tenants, caught him off guard.

McGinity approached the Sussexes’ gate carrying his films on a CD, hoping to make a pleasant gesture by sharing his knowledge of the area and his skills. The couple’s security crew, however, gave him a cold response and shooed him away, declaring that Harry and Meghan were “not interested.”

“I tried to be a good neighbor. I have a lot of information if they were interested in the area, the veteran said.

McGinity, who owns his own accounting firm, rents out the main house on Airbnb while living in the guest house of his expansive property. He acknowledged that they don’t see the Duke and Duchess in the region very frequently and said that the neighborhood tends to draw elderly people, earning the nickname “where the elephants come to die.”

The veteran described in his book how the mudslides affected the small community, which is located between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. The Sussexes appear to have maintained a low profile in the upscale neighborhood despite being neighbors and not actively interacting with locals.

While the couple enjoys the peace and tranquility that their current home in Montecito provides, rumors indicate that Meghan and Harry have also been considering the potential of purchasing a coastal hideaway on the outskirts of metropolitan Los Angeles. The Duke and Duchess would greatly want to live in this area because it is a popular destination for Hollywood A-listers and tech titans.

It is unclear how the Sussexes will interact with the neighborhood as they adjust to their new lives in California and whether they will eventually accept their position as neighbors in Montecito. They seem to have made the decision to keep their distance and solitude from the neighborhood for the time being.