In a significant turn of royal events, King Charles hosted his estranged son, Prince Harry, at Highgrove House last week.
But the family reunion doesn’t end there. Because — wait for it — Harry was joined by his wife, Meghan Markle, and their two children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, at the King’s private Gloucestershire estate.
It’s a huge step after both Harry and Meghan have had limited involvement with the royal family since they stepped down as senior members in 2020.
Since their dramatic exit, the family of four have been living across the pond in the US, and have only visited Charles and co a handful of times.
In fact, Harry’s children have only seen their grandfather once since 2022, when they celebrated the late Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee.
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Harry was in the country to officially mark one year until his Invictus Games, which will be held in Birmingham in 2027.
It was long speculated that he would reunite with his father without the rest of his family, as it was rumoured Meghan had plans to spend the summer at their newly renovated Portugal villa.
However, the Sussexes swapped the Med for the UK, despite security concerns.
It was reported Harry had wanted Meghan, Archie and Lilibet to join him for the Invictus countdown, but had safety concerns as he and his family would not receive police protection during their visit.
It’s thought Harry decided to complete his public engagements solo, and went to Highgrove House with Meghan and the kids for a private visit.
Logistics aside, it’s now been alleged that the trip — which royal fans have viewed as an olive branch from the UK-based royals — was tinged with ‘sadness’ for Meghan.
A source said this is because Meghan was hoping to support her husband at the Invictus Games, as well as visit the royal family.
They told People that the former Suits star ‘is very supportive’ of her husband and ‘there’s a lot of sadness’ regarding her being unable to be by Harry’s side during Invictus promo.
However, another source claimed that, when it comes to the royal family and repairing the Sussexes’ relationship with them, Meghan ‘always lets [Harry] lead.’
Alongside Meghan’s ‘sadness,’ Russell Myers, author of William & Catherine, said the UK trip has been ‘quite stressful.’
Myers alleged this is mainly down to the security issues the couple have faced for years now.
It all traces back to when Harry and Meghan were stripped of their taxpayer-funded police protection.
Harry then lost a legal challenge to have this protection reinstated when visiting the UK in May last year.
In a BBC interview after the ruling, Harry said it wasn’t safe to bring his family back to the country because he could not guarantee their safety.
The Duke of Sussex currently pays for a private security team, which he says does not have the proper jurisdiction to protect his family in Great Britain.
An insider told Closer earlier this year that the ‘situation is said to be causing strain between the couple.’
As for Myers’ take on the recent UK trip, he said that what was billed as a big homecoming — not only for Harry but potentially for Meghan too — turned into a nightmare. He said it was further evidence of the ‘fractiousness of Harry’s relationship with the institution.’
These politics aside, it’s not all bad, as it seems as though Harry manifested his children’s reunion with King Charles.
Back in May, the insider claimed that Harry had ‘hopes of arranging a private meeting with King Charles’ and was ‘determined to make it happen.’
They said Harry was keen for ‘Charles to spend proper time with Archie and Lilibet,’ and that the Prince ‘feels time is precious and that the children need to see their grandfather now.’
They added: ‘There’s a growing urgency around wanting the children to have memories with Charles.’