As Hollywood’s celebrities now know all too well, Mother Nature does not care how many zeroes are in your bank , how many cars are parked in your garage, or how many bedrooms your mansion has. The ongoing LA wildfires have mercilessly torn a smoldering path through luxury neighborhoods and leaving many A-listers temporarily homeless.
not among them, though that’s only through dumb luck. So far, the fires haven’t reached their neighborhood of Montecito, though just a few miles down the coast to the east, the Auto Fire is burning across 56 acres. Unfortunately for Los Angeles, the current forecast is for continued high winds that’ll send embers far and wide, potentially sparking new fires across the area.
As such, contingency “crisis mode” plans are being rapidly drawn up to ensure the safety of the Sussexes and their children. Sources close to the family have indicated their security team is figuring out the logistics of a rapid evacuation, with one of their neighbors commenting: “It’s not chaos here yet, but the fire is moving fast and we are not taking any chances.”
Like their neighbors, Harry and Meghan have been provided with a bag of emergency supplies if things start to look dangerous, including a solar phone charger, flashlight, protective equipment, bottled water, snacks, and safety pamphlets. We imagine that Harry and Meghan aren’t in any danger of losing access to water and snacks anytime soon regardless of what happens, but at least they seem to have their bases covered in the unlikely event the couple ends up in a survival situation.
So, if the proverbial hits the fan (and they’re somehow separated from their security team), how would Harry, Meghan, and their children fare against a firestorm? Meghan’s life of smiling and clapping at various events doesn’t suggest a finely honed set of survival skills, but at least Harry has extensive military training. If it came down to it, those hours spent being yelled at in a rainy English field by some mustachioed officer would come in handy, likely resulting in him whipping his family into shape as an improvised military unit.
But if Montecito needs to be evacuated, where does Harry and Meghan’s chopper go? One option is Canada, specifically a mansion known as Mille Fleurs on Vancouver Island. This was where the couple hashed out their Megxit plan back in 2019 and is a nicely appointed mansion that would fit their needs. However, at least in 2019, this was owned by an unnamed Russian billionaire, so it would be a political hot potato now.
The Sussexes might even cross the Atlantic to their new property purchase in Portugal. In Oct. 2024 it was confirmed they’d splashed out £6.3 million on a house at the CostaTerra Gold and Ocean Club about an hour’s drive south of Lisbon, though it’s unclear whether this home is ready to move into.
Fortunately for Harry and Meghan, they’re not short of wealthy friends who’ll loan them a mansion, so it’s not exactly time to break out the violins for them yet. But whether their Montecito home is consumed by the flames or not, we suspect these wildfires will mean their days in this neighborhood are numbered. Just because the fires haven’t reached them yet is no guarantee they won’t in the future, so we anticipate them (and many other super-wealthy celebs) to up sticks to a region that isn’t at risk of becoming a scorched nightmare.
Published: Jan 14, 2025 11:25 am