A spokesperson for the couple tells ET, 'they have settled into the quiet privacy of their community.'
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have officially become homeowners. A spokesperson for the couple confirmed to ET, "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved into their family home in July of this year."
"They have settled into the quiet privacy of their community since their arrival and hope that this will be respected for their neighbors, as well as for them as a family," the spokesperson added.
PageSix, who was first to report the news, added that the pair -- who are parents to 1-year-old son Archie -- bought a private family home in Santa Barbara.
Meghan and Harry had been living at Tyler Perry's eight-bedroom, 12-bathroom Tuscan-style, $18 million mansion in Beverly Hills. Amid their time in Los Angeles, the couple had been volunteering at various organizations.
ET reported last month, that the couple's transition from royal life in the U.K. to a more laid-back lifestyle in Los Angeles hasn't been exactly as they pictured. Royal expert Katie Nicholl exclusively told ET that Meghan and Harry were "sorely mistaken" in thinking they'd have more privacy in the United States, and that they've been struggling with the move.
"I think one of the big concerns when the couple moved to Los Angeles was security, at least, who was going to pay for that security. It's my understanding that they're renting Tyler Perry's home, which comes with its own security entourage," she said. "One of the key issues for them is that they are in the spotlight. They attract a huge amount of attention and their concern has always been how they would balance their private lives with their public roles."
"A lot of people might think that they have been naive in expecting a greater level of privacy in Los Angeles. America has different privacy rules to the U.K.," she continued. "While they were living in Britain, there were no paparazzi pictures of them. There was still a gentleman's agreement between the press and the palace that when the principals -- the senior members of the royal family -- were enjoying private time, that private time was respected. So if the couple were papped, then the British newspapers agreed with the palace that they wouldn't use those paparazzi pictures."
Meanwhile, the couple is currently making headlines as their journey has been documented in the new tell-all book, Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of the Modern Royal Family. While they had no participation in the book's creation, co-author Omid Scobie told ET that he and Carolyn Durand spoke with 100 sources and friends of Harry and Meghan who were upset with how they were being treated in the media.
"Harry and Meghan didn’t take part in the process or do any interviews," Scobie said to ET. "But my co-author and I found that many of the friends who agreed to speak were so frustrated of the coverage of their friends. They felt the people they were seeing on these pages were not their friends, the people they knew. This was a unique chance for us to put aside the story that wasn’t out there for others who want to hear it."
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