Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have successfully managed to keep a low-profile since their return to the UK last month. But that could be about to change.
Friends close to the Sussexes have opened up about the couple’s movements in recent weeks, which have been focused on preparing for their children’s first day at their new British prep school.
However, Meghan is also said to be focused on ‘rekindling’ her relationships with UK charities – and is expected to be photographed and publicised doing so.
Initially, when they left Britain in 2020, the Sussexes announced that they would “no longer participate in the royal rota system” that covers the royal family’s public work.
But that seems to have changed with some royal rota reporters given access to Harry’s engagements in Britain in recent years.
Now it seems that Meghan, too, will want press coverage. The Times reports that she, Harry, and their team are considering creating a new “framework that is fair” for media access to their engagements.
School uniform and pencil cases
Currently, however, their focus is on children Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five. The couple are prioritising settling them into their new family home and their new school, where they will enrol this week.
A friend told the publication: “They are still unpacking at home and getting over the jet lag.
“They’re buying school uniform and trying to buy pencil cases without being spotted. They wanted to come back, they’re excited about being back and everything that’s to come.”
Meghan’s plans
In the longer term, however, Meghan wants to return to her charity work.
A source close to Meghan told the publication: “She is thinking about plans for how she can get more involved and support the causes she was supporting and was passionate about again, and new causes too. She wants to pick up with a lot of people.”
© Photo: Getty ImagesTop of the list is likely Smart Works – one of four patronages she took on after her marriage to Harry in 2018, and the only one she retained after the Sussexes stepped back as working royals.
Smart Works helps unemployed and vulnerable women back into employment, providing them with clothes for interviews, networking opportunities and interview training.
Harry’s return
Harry is also preparing to step back into the spotlight. Later this month, he will undertake several days of engagements with some of his patronages and organisations he supports, including the Invictus Games, WellChild and Imperial College’s Centre for Blast Injury Studies.
He will also do a charity skydive this month, taking to the skies alongside fellow veterans to support Sunnybrook and the True Patriot Love Foundation, which aids military communities in Canada.
© Getty ImagesThe skydive will be in honour of World War 2 veteran Ed Marshall, whom Harry met last year during a visit to Sunnybrook Veterans Centre in Toronto, and Harry will be joined by Ed’s grandson Bailey.
No half-in half-out
While the Sussexes now live in far closer proximity to the royal family, they have accepted that there is no change to their status as non-working royals.
As such, they will not be invited to attend events such as Trooping the Colour or the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph.
© WireImageSources close to Harry, who served two tours of Afghanistan during a ten-year military career, say he may choose to publicly mark Remembrance Sunday with one of his military charities. “He will do whatever they want him to do,” a friend said.
It was the late Queen who firmly rejected a “half-in, half-out” royal role for Harry and Meghan during the January 2020 Sandringham summit, insisting that members of the royal family cannot selectively pick working duties while retaining commercial ties or official status.
It’s a stance that her son, King Charles, seems set on seeing through.
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