Their new £11million mansion in Santa Barbara lies in the heart of California’s earthquake country – an area also ravaged in recent years by wildfires and mudslides.
The region has been hit by 190 quakes – at least one every other day on average – in the past year alone, with more than a dozen seismic events since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved in with 15-monthold son Archie.
Santa Barbara has not taken a massive hit since a 6.8 magnitude earthquake destroyed its historic city centre and claimed 13 lives in 1925.
But experts believe another major event is overdue in the area, which is near several fault lines, including the Hosgri and San Luis ranges that form part of the San Andreas Fault system.
Prince Harry and Meghan are due to celebrate his 36th birthday next month in the nine-bedroom Chateau of Riven Rock – which they bought from Russian oligarch Sergey Grishin for a cut-price £11.2million, down from the original £25.9million.
But last night the Duke and Duchess were warned they are “sleepwalking into a firetrap” with their dream move.
British billionaire and cola bottling heir Alki David lives in Malibu, 90 miles down the coast, and believes recent deadly wildfires may be driving down property prices as well as posing an ever-present threat to resi-dents.
He said the 2018 Thomas Fire, in which 23 people died either in the inferno or from resulting mudslides, at one stage engulfed almost 300,000 acres.
Mr David said: “I love Harry and Meghan and it is only fair they should know about the risks in Montecito.
Two dear friends recently lost homes in that area to fires, many other innocent people have died.”
He believes in Harry’s case “it is hard for someone from England to understand the sheer terror of fires that size”.
The Sussexes’ new neighbours include media mogul Oprah Winfrey and TV chat queen Ellen DeGeneres, who was forced to evacuate her mansion in the blaze. Last year another raging inferno forced more than 6,300 people in Santa Barbara to flee their homes.
Mr David said: “I fear the royals are sleepwalking into a firetrap.”
