Harry visits King with Meghan and children for first time in four years
Harry visits King with Meghan and children for first time in four years
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, along with their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, have visited King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Buckingham Palace confirmed on Friday evening that the King and Queen hosted the family at Highgrove House earlier in the afternoon.
The Palace described the meeting at the King’s private home in Gloucestershire as a “private family occasion”.
It is the first time the King has seen his grandchildren Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, in person in more than four years.
Prince Harry and Meghan had not been in the UK together since 2022, when they attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
Prince Harry has attended a number of events in the UK this week, but it was confirmed on Thursday that Meghan and the two children would not accompany him on any public engagements during the last two days of his visit.
It is not known where the family is staying while here.
The meeting is a significant development in family relations that have been strained since Prince Harry and Meghan’s departure from the UK and royal duty in 2020.
Sources said father and son wanted to meet this week and the King was keen to make time to see his two young grandchildren.
The prince has travelled to the country alone since 2022, and met his father on a trip last September.
While Prince Harry and his family were at Highgrove, his brother, the Prince of Wales, was playing in a charity polo match in Windsor.
The brothers’ relationship remains broken and there are no plans for them to meet while Harry and Meghan are in the UK.
Earlier on Friday, Prince Harry was in Birmingham counting down to the next Invictus Games for injured service men and women, an event he has been closely involved with for a number of years.
He was warmly applauded by participants and supporters of the games, and tried his hand at pickleball and wheelchair rugby.
Initially, the prince’s visit to the UK was overshadowed by his court defeat against Associated Newspapers and confusion over whether Meghan and their children would come to the country. Initial details of the trip said Meghan would appear at events in London and Birmingham. Following a dispute over levels of security, it was later confirmed this would not be the case.
And last week, before the prince travelled, there was confusion over whether he was going to stay in Buckingham Palace.
His team had announced that he had accepted an invitation to stay at the Palace, but that was then swiftly rejected by the Palace, who said Prince Harry had already been told that he would not be allowed to stay there.
The King attended events in Oxfordshire prior to the family meeting on Friday.
He opened a building at the University of Oxford before meeting astronaut Tim Peake at the launch of a space initiative.
Earlier in the week, he was joined by the Queen on a visit to London Zoo, where he was pictured during sweltering temperatures as much of the UK experiences a heatwave.
By BBC News