The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have returned to the royal fold!
Well, temporarily, anyway. As you probably know, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have pretty much stayed away from England altogether after resigning from the Royal Family. Harry has been back a couple times (notably, for his grandfather Prince Philip’s funeral), but he has refused to bring his family to the country on the grounds that the government won’t provide adequate protection.
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But as the couple traveled to the Netherlands for the prince’s Invictus Games (leaving their kids Archie and Lilibet at home in the US), they must have felt safe enough for a quick stop. They apparently flew into Heathrow on Tuesday for a lowkey meeting with Queen Elizabeth. A spokesperson for the Sussexes told Page Six:
“We can confirm that they visited the duke’s grandmother, as we previously said he hoped to do. They stopped by the UK on their way to The Hague to attend the Invictus Games.”
The parents reportedly stayed overnight at Frogmore Cottage, which used to be their home on the grounds of Windsor Castle. (Princess Eugenie and her family now live there.) They were spotted by visitors for the Royal Maundy Service, a tradition that takes place three days before Easter at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor.
An onlooker dished to The Sun:
“I couldn’t believe it when I saw who it was. We waved and they waved back. They looked happy and relaxed and waved to everyone on the bus. [Prince] Charles and the Queen were at Windsor Castle at the same time so they must have met them both. It was quite the sight. We knew we might see Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall [Camilla Parker Bowles] at the ceremony but never believed we would bump into Harry and Meghan.”
The Guardian confirmed that the couple not only offered an “olive branch” to the military vet’s grandmother, they also met with Charles and Camilla. Royal biographer Phil Dampier told The Sun that the meeting was Harry’s way of “slowly starting to rebuild some bridges” with his father.
Dampier said:
“I think Harry has realized that it looked very bad that he didn’t come to Prince Philip’s memorial service and perhaps he’s having second thoughts about how he’s been playing things. He’s obviously decided he wanted to see his grandmother and I’m sure she was pleased to see him. Most of all I’m sure Charles was happy as I’m sure he would like to repair their relationship.”
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He continued:
“This seems to have been the first tentative step in repairing their relationship. It would have been nice if Prince William was able to see him as well. I think it means Harry is finally rebuilding some bridges.”
With the Queen’s 96th birthday right around the corner, it’s only right that Harry and Meghan stop by while they’re in Europe. But we’re glad to hear they made an effort to thaw some tension with Charles and Camilla as well. Crossing our fingers that this is the beginning of the end of the royal family feud!
[Image via MEGA/WENN/Avalon]
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