Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be reunited in London today at Trooping the Colour alongside Prince William, Kate, Prince Charles, and Camilla for their first official joint engagement in two years.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are also likely to bring three-year-old Archie and Lilibet, who is almost one, to the tense – and highly public – family reunion in front of millions of viewers.
Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, the children’s relatives, are expected to finally meet them. Archie hasn’t been in the UK since he was six months old, and Lilibet has never met her royal ancestors.
But there is no invitation for the shamed Duke of York even in a private capacity, showing just how far the Queen’s son has fallen from grace. The Queen’s Birthday Parade at Horse Guards in London is the first official Platinum Jubilee event of the bank holiday weekend, and the most widely attended by the Windsors.
Many had thought Her Majesty’s appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the traditional post-parade flypast would be the most keenly anticipated moment of the day. But it is likely all eyes will, in fact, be on the family reunion playing out 50 yards down the road instead.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been invited by the Queen to join family members watching the spectacular military event from the Major General’s Office overlooking the Whitehall parade ground. The room – once used by the Duke of Wellington – spreads out over the entrance to Horse Guards. It is where dignitaries traditionally watch from if they are not involved in the parade proceedings.
The group will not include the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge or the Princess Royal. Her Majesty will remain at Buckingham Palace where she will take the returning cavalry’s salute from the balcony there.
Charles will be taking the salute as the Colour of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards is trooped and inspect the Troops of the Household Division on the monarch’s behalf. He will be joined by his elder son and sister, with all three on horseback.
The Duchess of Cornwall, the Duchess of Cambridge, the Earl and Countess of Wessex and many other royals will travel to Horse Guards Parade from the palace in carriages. They will then disembark and watch the rest of the event from the Major General’s Office alongside Harry and Meghan, who will arrive by car.
The large royal party will also include all grandchildren of the Queen and their spouses. As well as the Sussexes there will be Princess Beatrice and her husband Edo, Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack and Anne’s children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, and their families.
Meghan will not have seen any of the family since she and her husband acrimoniously quit as working royals and moved to North America in early 2020, while the prince only saw them very briefly at the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral last year.
The last public occasion the Sussexes attended together in the UK was the annual Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in March 2020 when the atmosphere could not have been more awkward. William and Kate virtually blanked Harry and Meghan that day, leaving Prince Edward and Sophie to try to keep the peace.
Fortunately William, who has been most deeply affected by his brother’s actions and has struggled to hide his hurt, will not be forced to greet the couple in public. And Kate proved to be an admirable peacemaker when she made a point of breaking the ice and speaking to Harry after the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral.
Harry and Meghan are staying with their children at their Windsor home, Frogmore Cottage. They had always been expected to join the congregation for tomorrow’s service of thanksgiving for the Queen’s 70-year reign at St Paul’s Cathedral, but their participation with Trooping is seen as an additional olive branch from Her Majesty.
As Britain prepares for the Platinum Jubilee weekend:
- Plucky Brits vow to celebrate Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with street parties, four days of celebrations and miles of bunting despite councils, a gloomy forecast and advice to party indoors threatening to dampen the mood;
- Security experts said Harry and Meghan may hold up inside Frogmore Cottage over the bank holiday and only leave to attend two Jubilee events because they are being denied VIP 24/7 armed protection from UK police;
- The Queen was caught in mid-air drama as a thunderstorm forced her private jet to abort its landing in London and circle over the capital for 15 minutes on Tuesday;
- Princess Eugenie paid a moving personal tribute to her ‘grannie’ the Queen on the eve of the monarch’s historic Platinum Jubilee celebrations;
Yesterday, the Queen sent a car and a security detail to collect Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet after their private jet landed in the UK from California, ahead of her celebrations.
In the latest sign that hostilities between The Firm and the Sussexes are thawing, Her Majesty’s Land Rover greeted the family and their children at Farnborough Airport in Hampshire before taking them to Frogmore Cottage.
The Sussexes left Santa Barbara airport with their children Archie and Lilibet, and their arrival marks Lilibet’s first time in the country, ahead of today’s Trooping the Colour — the first of the Platinum Jubilee events.
For Lilibet – who turns one on Saturday – it will be the first time she has met her great-grandmother. Their arrival comes just months after Harry claimed he was ‘unable to return home’ because is too dangerous.
An insider told The Sun that ‘the Queen believed it was the right thing to do’ to send her car to meet her grandson and his family. The couple’s Embraer private jet landing at Farnborough, and the Queen’s black Land Rover – escorted by a Volkswagen people carrier – driving onto the tarmac.
The Sun reported that the family were believed to have got into the blacked-out VW car, and that they travelled without their customary entourage or senior staff working for their Archewell charity. It also said Netflix camera crews – who have been following the couple for an £11million documentary – stayed behind.
Harry, Meghan and their two children were not given a police escort for the 40-minutes drive from Farnborough to Windsor, pictures in The Sun suggested.
On Saturday, their daughter Lilibet will be marking her first birthday. The Queen is likely to miss her favourite sporting event, the Derby horse races at Epsom, for the little one’s celebrations, as she meets her for the first time.
While the couple are expected to attend Trooping the Colour as spectators today, Prince Andrew will not, a military source told MailOnline. As colonel of the Grenadier Guards, Andrew has previously played a key role in the ceremony, riding out by the Queen’s side as the regiment’s representative.
Since being stripped of the title earlier this year the Duke of York was not expected to play an active part in the event, but the possibility of him appearing with other royals on Horse Guards Parade as a spectator had previously been left open.
Both Andrew and the Sussexes have already been barred from appearing on the Buckingham Palace to watch the RAF Red Arrows’ flypast.
It came as security experts predicted the Sussexes may hold up inside Frogmore Cottage over the bank holiday and only leave to attend two Platinum Jubilee events because they are being denied VIP 24/7 armed protection from British police.
After a secret visit to see the Queen at Windsor Castle in late April, the sixth in the line to the throne has received ‘cast iron assurances’ that he, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet will be protected during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations that begin today and end on Sunday. It is only the second time Meghan has returned to the UK after they sensationally quit their royal roles in 2020.
Simon Morgan, a former royal protection officer, told MailOnline yesterday that Harry would have no way of influencing the decision made by MI5, the Home Office and the Foreign Office, even if he put pressure on his grandmother to intervene. As a result they may be forced to keep a ‘low profile’ during their stay and not organise their own events.
Mr Morgan, who now runs the security business Trojan Consultancy, said: ‘If they are staying at Frogmore Cottage they are going to be extremely secure there and that may be why they are not doing anything away from the main Platinum Jubilee events because they will not have protection for that’.
The couple are expected to attend the Service of Thanksgiving with the Queen at St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday morning – as well as the BBC’s Party at the Palace the following evening.
Mr Morgan expects they will be given armed protection at these events, and on the journey to and from Windsor due to the security operation planned for the jubilee.
‘The jubilee is one of the highest risk events for years – and the Met have a duty of care to protect those attending, especially the royal family and foreign dignitaries’, Mr Morgan said.
British officers will stand guard at Frogmore Cottage, where they will be protected 24/7. But this will not extend to private events such as socialising with friends at restaurants and pubs or going to the shops off the Queen’s Windsor Castle estate.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are thought to be travelling without any senior staff and just a small security team, having left their most trusted workers back home in California, according to people with knowledge of their travel plans.
Their bodyguards, which have included those responsible for the security of Barack Obama and Michael Jackson, will not be able to carry guns in the UK and the Metropolitan Police will have primacy on security matters as soon as they step off the plane.
The Met’s Royalty and Specialist Protection unit is understood to have spent weeks liaising with Harry’s team to guarantee taxpayer-funded officers look after them as much as is allowed, The Mirror reports.
Lilibet will turn one on Saturday, with a party expected at Frogmore likely to be attended by royals such as Princess Eugenie, who is close to Harry and Meghan, and the Queen could also pop in if she doesn’t attend the Epsom Derby. It will be the first time the monarch will meet the great-granddaughter named after her.
But Prince William and Kate will not be there because they will be representing Her Majesty in Cardiff as senior working royals are sent to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to mark the monarch’s 70 years on the throne.
Harry and Meghan are expected to attend the Service of Thanksgiving with the Queen at St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday morning – as well as the BBC’s Party at the Palace the following evening, the report claimed.
But the sources added that the Sussexes will not conduct their own programme of events while in Britain to avoid overshadowing the four-day weekend of celebrations for the 70-year reign of Harry’s 96-year-old grandmother.
This suggests that they may stay in the grounds of Windsor Castle, where they will be protected by armed police at all times. But this will not extend to while they are out at private events such as socialising with friends at restaurants and pubs or going to the shops.
The UK’s stance is in contrast with the couple’s treatment at the Invictus Games in Holland in April, where they were afforded VVIP status.
A former US presidential secret service agent was assigned to lead close protection for the couple and armed protection officers who usually guard the King of the Netherlands provided security outside of the venue. A Land Rover with two other private security guards drove with Harry and Meghan’s vehicle, with an unmarked car containing two members of the Dutch Royal protection squad.
Security experts including Mr Morgan said at the time they ‘couldn’t fathom’ why Harry felt safe in Holland but not in the UK.
Harry, 37, is taking legal action against the Home Office after being stripped of permanent police protection after quitting as a frontline royal.
Harry has since claimed he does not feel safe under these security arrangements when bringing his family to the UK and was ‘unable to return home’ over fears it is too dangerous.
He had even offered to pay for British police bodyguards himself – but the Met said that their officers cannot be paid for.
Sources told The Mirror that he has always been ‘in favour’ of returning to the UK for the Queen’s celebrations, despite the Met insisting its officers are not ‘guns for hire’.
At their US home, Harry and Meghan are protected by a 24-hour security team, including 12 former special forces personnel.
A source said: ‘For Harry, this has always been about protecting his family.
‘He has been in constant contact with the relevant parties and made it very clear that he wouldn’t travel without receiving cast iron assurances over the safety of his family.
‘He is satisfied the right procedures are in place and they are all very much looking forward to this week’s celebrations and of course getting to spend time with Her Majesty.’
It comes after the couple met the monarch in a brief secret meeting with Prince Charles before they flew out to the Invictus Games in the Netherlands earlier this month.
At the meeting, Harry and Meghan promised they would introduce the Queen to Lilibet, who is named after her.
With the Queen expected to pace herself over the four-day bank holiday weekend, extended so the nation can celebrate the jubilee, there is speculation she will not travel to Epsom racecourse for the Derby on Saturday as she does not have a runner, although another of her thoroughbreds is entered in a race.
The day could be the perfect opportunity for the royal family to gather to celebrate the christening of Lilibet at Windsor Castle on the child’s first birthday.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman declined to comment on the reports and said: ‘Frogmore Cottage remains the UK home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.’
The Mail revealed on Saturday that the Queen is set to spend time with the family on Saturday to celebrate Lilibet’s birthday.
She has never met her great-granddaughter and not seen Archie in person since he was a baby and taken by his parents to Canada and then the US.
There has also been speculation that the couple may try to get Lilibet christened while they are here in the private chapel at Windsor Castle, where Archie was also christened in 2019.
And earlier this week, he shared a post praising the Duke on Instagram, writing: ‘What a joy to see you smile and be so happy. I love being your teammate.’
Meanwhile, the UK has gone ‘Jubilee-mad’ as people drape their gardens in Union flags and even knit life-sized figures of the beloved monarch.