People want custody settled soon, so kids can go to school. In this uniquely international situation, the best a California court can do quickly is a temporary order of custody until there is a long, drawn-out hearing. A SCOTUS case takes years to get there, and it depends on whether the SCOTUS would even take such a case. They hear a very small percentage of cases sent up to them, at their discretion.
Does our Supreme Court even have standing in an international custody dispute? The highest this matter is likely to go is the US & UK diplomatic corps.
The other issue is distance. Obviously H&M will not be able to have frequent shared custody unless one of them repatriates, and it ain't gonna be Sparkles. Given that both parties will assert that they are the rightful custodian, what could she do, change the locks and hire bodyguards to keep Harry out? Harry could just bundle them up and fly home, and make her fight it out for year$ and year$. He has more power in this situation, barring other complications such as the children not actually being full blood whereupon the royal family decides to ditch the whole mess.
It will indeed be interesting, but I wouldn't count on either H or M feeling overly impressed by California law. Many of the Hollywood divorce suits are negotiated by ther parties' publicists and tried in the media. Some Hollywood divorces, like Brad and Angelina's, last seven to ten years. While neither Harry nor Megxit has the attention span to keep fighting that long, there are plenty of royal courtiers on staff to keep it going for Harry, Charles and William's side. Charles himself may not last that long.
If it comes down to William, I doubt he would dither around. He will be king; he is a good dad, has three playmate children to offer Harry's kids (and also cousins of playmate age), and he would be Harry's only close family after Charles is gone—whereas Meghan's father's large family will testify against her! At a minimum, Charles or William will have those kids back in UK to go to boarding school, and she can have a couple of weeks in the summer, supervised by MI6.
There are so many more avenues open to the Crown to manage this situation than are there for the family-free Meghan, who spurned everyone she grew up with except her mother. To whom would you award the kids—California semi-ghetto, or the large royal family of a thousand-year monarchy, in which both children are in the line of succession and need to be educated in its traditions or be removed from the line?
Even Diana lost primary custody.
Elizabeth II's great-grandchildren: Prince George, Prince Louis, the late Queen, Princess Charlotte (seated), Savannah Phillips (Princess Anne's grandchild by her son Peter, standing), the late Duke of Edinburgh, Isla Phillips (Savannah's sister), Lucas Tindall (baby on lap, Anne's grandson by her daughter Zara), Lena Tindal (Lucas' sister). Missing: Mia Tindall (oldest child of Zara), Archie and Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor (Harry's children), August and Ernest Brooksbank (Prince Andrew's grandsons by daughter Eugenie).
