Harry and Meghan may use their visit to the UK next month as a chance to see the Queen, royal experts said today – although their arrival coincides with a busy week in which the monarch will also meet the new Prime Minister.
The Sussexes will come to Britain next month for the first time since the Platinum Jubilee to attend several charity events, including the One Young World Summit in Manchester on September 5.
They will then head to Germany for the Invictus Games Dusseldorf 2023 One Year to Go event, before returning to the UK for the WellChild Awards on September 8.
It is not known if their three-year-old son, Archie, or Lilibet, one, will join them.
The couple are likely to want to spend time with the Queen after enjoying ‘barely 15 minutes’ her during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations this summer, according to royal watchers.
The monarch is currently in Balmoral but will be in London on September 6 to meet either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak. Earlier this month, she invited Harry and Meghan to join her at her Highland retreat, The Sun reported.
Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams today suggested a meeting with the monarch would be more likely to take place in London or Windsor.
He told MailOnline: ‘The reports that the Queen had invited Harry and Meghan to Balmoral were never confirmed. However it would only make sense for them to see her when she is at Windsor and when they are based at Frogmore, as they could only spend a very little time with her during the Platinum Jubilee.
‘If she does come down as anticipated, she may receive the new Prime Minister at Windsor or at Buckingham Palace. There would also be time for her and the Sussexes to discuss the future, which hopefully will be more constructive than the recent past.
‘They also must be aware that some form of reconciliation in the Platinum Jubilee year would surely be beneficial for the image they want as philanthropists.’
However, Phil Dampier suggested Balmoral could be the more likely venue.
‘Whether he meets the Queen will probably depend on her. If she tells them she wants to see them I’m sure they will pop in for a chat,’ he told MailOnline.
‘I’m sure she would hope the relaxed atmosphere there would be more conducive to talking things through and trying to solve the problems they all face.
‘Meghan won’t like the hunting shooting and fishing environment of the Highlands but the Queen would feel much more comfortable meting them there rather than a rushed meeting in London.’
A spokesman for the Sussexes said: ‘Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are delighted to visit with several charities close to their hearts in early September.’
Today’s announcement comes just weeks after it emerged Harry had filed a second lawsuit against the government and Scotland Yard over the decision not to allow him to pay for police protection when he visits from California.
The Duke of Sussex is already suing the Home Office over its decision in 2020 to remove his taxpayer-funded protection, which he says makes it unsafe for him to come to Britain with his wife, Meghan Markle, and two children, Archie and Lilibet.
The Sussexes will travel to Manchester for the One Young World Summit, an event which brings together young leaders from more than 190 countries, on September 5 (pic: The couple at St Paul’s Cathedral on June 3 during their last UK visit)
The couple will travel to Manchester for the One Young World Summit. Meghan is a counsellor for the organisation
The couple made only one public appearance over the Jubilee weekend, despite flying in from the United States with their two children, Archie and Lilibet.
They didn’t appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony during Trooping of the Color and were also seemingly relegated to the second row during the Thanksgiving service.
Palace aides were said to have choreographed timing for the Platinum Jubilee service to ensure that William and Kate didn’t bump into Meghan and Harry.
The couple sat apart from Prince William, Kate, Prince Charles and Camilla in the church after royal aides ensured they sat on separate sides of the aisle.
Departure and arrival times were also carefully considered by Palace aides, so as to avoid the brothers and their spouses bumping into each other.
Harry and William have had a long-standing feud, while the Duke of Sussex has also accused his father of cutting him off financially while Meghan claimed an unnamed royal made a comment about Archie’s skin tone before he was born, which she told Oprah Winfrey last year in a bombshell interview.
Harry’s new legal case against the Home Office is understood to still be at an early phase, with no hearings yet scheduled.
It will focus on a decision in January by the Royalty and VIP Executive Committee (RAVEC), which concluded that private individuals should not be allowed to pay for police to protect them.
The revelation of a second court case – which emerged on Meghan’s birthday – threatens to raise tensions with the Royal Family due to claims that the Queen’s Private Secretary, Sir Edward Young, was involved in the decision to deny Harry protection.
‘Significant tensions’ are said to have existed between the Duke of Sussex and Sir Edward, according to the prince’s legal team.
The Duke has been taking legal action against the department after being told he would no longer be given the ‘same degree’ of personal protective security when visiting from the US.
His representatives have previously told of how he wants to bring his family to visit from the US, but that they are ‘unable to return to his home’ because it is too dangerous.
The case is understood to have cost the Home Office £90,094.79 from September 2021 and May earlier this year.
That sum is understood to include £55,254 on the government’s Legal Department, £34,824 on counsel and £16.55 on couriers, The Sun reports.
News of the Sussex’s return to the UK comes as a new royal biography made bombshell claims about the Duchess of Sussex.
Tom Bower, author of a new insider’s account of the royal couple titled Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors, said the Duchess ‘thought the royal family would be like Hollywood.’
Speaking to Ben Shephard and Charlotte Hawkins on Good Morning Britain he claimed that once Meghan realised the royal family was ‘lots of work and little reward’, she didn’t like it anymore.
The Queen’s diary may present challenges if the couple hope to see her in London or Windsor during their visit next month
It follows reports last month that the Queen had invited the Sussexes to spent time with them at Balmoral this summer
The author said: ‘It’s wrong to say she was a famous actress, she wasn’t, she was a third rate actress, Suits was only watched by a million people.’
During the interview, the author admitted that many of his sources were people who don’t like Meghan because she’d warned her nearest and dearest not to speak to him.
Shephard said to Bower: ‘She was a very famous actress. She had a high profile in Hollywood and Suits is a series that was streamed all over the world, so people knew who she was.’
Bower disagreed with the host, referring to Meghan’s cover story with Vanity Fair while she was dating Prince Harry.
‘Well we won’t argue but I disagree with you,’ he said. ‘The point is, until she met Harry, even Graydon Carter, the editor of Vanity Fair who commissioned the article, never heard of her and never heard of Suits.
‘He was just told that anyone who marries Harry is going to be famous and she indeed was.’
‘She said to her father ”I want to be famous, I want to walk down the red carpet” and by marrying Harry she achieved exactly that ambition.’
The biographer went on to say he believes the royal family tried very hard to accommodate Meghan and include her in the family.
He claimed: ‘People were very excited by the fact that there was a mixed race girl coming’, adding: ‘It was going to be a great development for the royal family.’
The Duke of Sussex has begun a second court case against the Home Office over its decision in 2020 to remove his taxpayer-funded protection
The couple (pictured at the UN last month before Harry’s speech) will also visit Germany as part of their trip to support ‘several charities close to their hearts’, their spokesperson said
However, he said ‘it went wrong’ and why it went wrong he said he has ‘explained fully’ in his new book.
‘Both sides are to blame but I believe the blame lies mostly with Meghan, who I don’t think understood the monarchy,’ he claimed.
The author went on to admit he got a lot of his information for the book from people who don’t like Meghan because she had warned the people closest to her not to speak to him.
He said: ‘She made it pretty clear to all her friends and people who work for her not to talk to me, so it was quite an uphill struggle but I got enough people to speak to me, more than enough, I got about 80 people.’
Shephard asked Bower how the book could be an unbiased account if we know the people interviewed already don’t like Meghan.
The author said: ‘Because I sifted through, I never put in stuff that isn’t true and can’t be checked.
‘You know I have some admiration for how Meghan succeeded quite well in her life with her ambitions and I was able to balance it all.’
A new era for the Cambridges…and no live-in nanny! William and Kate are set to swap Kensington Palace ‘goldfish bowl’ for Adelaide Cottage in weeks to give their children most ‘normal’ upbringing possible – but won’t have room for 24/7 Norland nanny
By Jonathan Rose and James Robinson for MailOnline
Prince William and Kate Middleton are set to escape the ‘goldfish bowl’ of Kensington Palace for a quieter life at the heart of the Windsor Estate.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, both 40, are reportedly set to uproot their family from Kensington, west London, to Adelaide Cottage in Berkshire this summer.
It will mean the couple and their family are closer to the Queen; who has in recent months faced episodic mobility issues and has spent much of her time at Windsor Castle.
The move to the four-bedroom home on the Windsor estate will mean ‘not having a live-in nanny for the first time in their children’s lives’.
However it will also allow the Cambridges to bring up their three young children, Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four, away from the hustle and bustle of central London.
And it will emulate the efforts of William’s mother, Princess Diana, who is said to have wanted to create a ‘normal and private’ life for him and Prince Harry – despite their royal status.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, are reportedly set to uproot their family from Kensington, west London, to a four-bed property in Windsor ‘to be closer to the Queen’
However, their young children will not have Spanish Norland nanny Maria Borrallo (pictured centre) on hand because she will live elsewhere, according to The Telegraph
The four-bedroom Adelaide Cottage (pictured) which has been recently refurbished and is on the Windsor estate
The ‘Spanish supernanny’ trained at the prestigious Norland College which has been producing childminders for the rich and famous since 1892
The Cambridge family are set to make the move later this summer, it has been reported.
However, their young children will not have Spanish Norland nanny Maria Borrallo on hand when he do, because she will live elsewhere, according to The Telegraph.
Ms Borrallo was hired by Kate and William to help look after Prince George when he was eight months old. She now cares for Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis too.
The ‘Spanish supernanny’ trained at the prestigious Norland College which has been producing childminders for the rich and famous since 1892.
Re-erected in 1831, the Cambridge’s new Grade II-listed retreat is just a short walk from St George’s Chapel and Windsor Castle, and sits proudly on the 655-acre royal estate in Berkshire.
Sources close to the family suggest the Cambridges were keen to be closer to the Queen, 96, who has suffered episodic mobility issues in recent months and also secure a good school for their three children.
George, Charlotte and Louis will be pulled out of their current prep school in Battersea and are all expected to start school locally when the new academic term begins in September.
The move also represents a fresh start for the senior royals and their five-strong family as they continue to cement their place among the most influential members of The Firm.
At Kensington Palace, their home boarders bustling Kensington High Street, while the palace itself can be seen from Kensington Palace Gardens, and has often been likened to living in a ‘goldfish bowl’.
But their new home is nestled in the heart of the Crown Estate’s Home Park, with much more scope for horse riding, walking the family dog and playing away from prying eyes.
The move is in keeping of with the desires of Prince William’s late mother, Princess Diana, who is said to have strived for a ‘normal life’ for him and his brother, despite their royal status.
Royal author Duncan Larcombe, speaking in the ITV documentary, Secrets of the Royal Babies, said: ‘Diana made sure William and Harry lived as much as a normal life as possible and as parents William and Harry will always be influenced by their mother.
‘Her desire to give them a taste of normality runs through the veins of William and Harry.’
Meanwhile, one source told the Sun: ‘Kate and William were very keen for a modest home to start their new lives in Windsor.
‘Adelaide Cottage fits the bill because it is a four-bedroom home and they do not need any more as they have no live-in staff.
‘They had no other demands than a pleasant family home close to schools and the Queen.
‘They were adamant they didn’t want anything too showy or anything that needed renovating or extra security so as not to be a burden on the taxpayer.’
The move will see William and Kate leave Kensington Palace, which has been their main residence since 2017.
The couple moved their from their country home, Anmer Hall, in Norfolk, where they had previously spent much of their time.
However, as first reported by The Sunday Times in June, the pair will retain their property at Kensington Palace as their London home despite moving to Berkshire. Their press team will remain in west London.
The couple will also retain Anmer Hall, which the paper reports they will continue to use ‘regularly’.
One friend reportedly told the paper that they plan to move there on a more permanent basis after their children are through ‘the school years’.
‘They absolutely love it up there, it’s their happy place,’ the friend is reported to have said.
Re-erected in 1831, the Cambridge’s new Grade II-listed retreat is just a short walk from St George’s Chapel and Windsor Castle, and sits proudly on the 655acre royal estate in Berkshire
The move to Windsor means the Cambridges will be near to the home of the Duchess’s parents, the Middletons, who live 45-minutes away by car in the village of Bucklebury.
It has long been reported that the couple could one day move into Windsor Castle.
The Queen has spent much of her time at the Berkshire castle following the death of her beloved Prince Phillip.
However it is understood Prince Charles does not plan to spend as much time there when he becomes king.
It has previously been reported that the Prince of Wales plans to spend much of his time at Buckingham Palace during his reign.
Tousle-haired and laughing, Prince George simply couldn’t look happier in the official photograph released to celebrate his ninth birthday today (pictured)
Last month the family celebrated the ninth birthday of Prince George and shared a picture of the young royal to make the occasion.
The picture was taken by Kate on a family trip to a UK beach last month after he and his siblings broke up from school.
George and his sister Charlotte have now left Thomas’ Battersea Prep School in south-west London and will be starting a new coeducational prep school in Berkshire this September, along with their younger brother Louis.
George – who posed in a polo-style top with a sandy shoreline and water behind him in his birthday snap – is said to be growing up into a happy, polite and contented boy who is ‘obsessed’ by football and loves being out and about in the fresh air.
He’s also undertaken several public engagements of late – including a visit to the Wimbledon Men’s Finals – as part of a very gradual introduction to public life.
His eventful few months included appearances with his siblings during the extended June bank holiday weekend that celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
The young royals were seen on Buckingham Palace’s balcony after the Trooping the Colour ceremony when they watched the fly-past of aircraft, then sat in the royal box with their parents during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant.
When attending the men’s Wimbledon tennis final with his parents this summer, George greeted ball boys and girls as well as military personnel in the Millennium building, alongside Kate and William.