After Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had lunch with the monarch and senior royals behind closed doors as part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the Queen met her great-granddaughter Lilibet for the first time.
After Trooping the Colour at Buckingham Palace, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex introduced their daughter, who was nicknamed Lilibet as a child, to the Queen at Windsor in one of the Royal Family’s private events.
Over the four-day Jubilee weekend, Harry and Meghan are expected to keep a quiet profile, with no evidence of the Netflix cameras that trailed them around at the Invictus Games in the Netherlands in April. They will, however, attend today’s Thanksgiving Service at St Paul’s Cathedral, which will be their first combined royal engagement in two years.
After being forced to withdraw from the funeral last night, Prince Charles will officially represent the Queen at the service in London today, and Prince Andrew will not attend after testing positive for coronavirus.
The Sussexes, who are visiting from California and staying at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, were not allowed on the Buckingham Palace balcony yesterday and instead observed the ceremonies from Horse Guards Parade.
Today’s ceremony, however, will be Harry and Meghan’s first with The Firm since the tense Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey in March 2020, just before they officially stood down as senior royals.
After experiencing ‘discomfort’ during the Trooping The Colour activities, the 96-year-old Queen will miss today’s ceremony at St Paul’s, according to a last-minute decision announced by the Palace at 7.30pm yesterday night.
The Queen is said to have had episodic mobility concerns yesterday, and the Palace said in a statement that she ‘enjoyed’ her birthday parade and flypast but ‘did experience some discomfort.’
‘Taking into account the journey and activity required to attend tomorrow’s National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, Her Majesty has decided, with much reluctance, that she will not attend,’ the statement added.
The decision, which is set to begin at 11.30 a.m. today, is said to be regrettable but reasonable given the length of the voyage and time required, as well as the physical strain the service would entail.
The Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and the Sussexes will be among the senior members of the monarchy at St Paul’s this morning, who will be joined by the wider royal family.