King Charles and Queen Camilla met Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet on Friday afternoon in the children’s first meeting with their grandparents in four years.
It followed days of speculation over whether the gathering would take place, after it had been announced that Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and the children would not join Harry in London.
Signs of ‘thaw’ in tensions between King and Harry
Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, last saw their grandparents in person during Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022, but on Friday, the family met at the King’s Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire.
It is widely seen as a sign that relations between the King and Harry are thawing, after the Duke stepped back from royal duties six years ago and became estranged from much of the Royal Family following his interview with Oprah Winfrey, the Netflix documentary series, and his memoir, Spare.
At the time of the meeting on Friday, William was playing in a charity polo match in Windsor.
Harry has made several trips back to the UK without his wife and children, and in February 2024, made a transatlantic dash from his Californian home to see his father following the King’s cancer diagnosis.
A brief visit
Harry had initially planned to bring his family to the UK this week while he attended events promoting charities and organisations, including the countdown to the Invictus Games.
While Meghan and the children did not travel with him on Monday, the trio came to the UK while on holiday in Europe, and are not expected to be make a public appearance, The Times reported.
Prince Harry leaves Birmingham Children’s Hospital after celebrating the 20th anniversary of the first WellChild Nurse programme (Photo: Isabel Infantes/Reuters)
Harry met his family after attending events in Birmingham – 90-minutes from Highgrove. He launched the one-year countdown for his Invictus Games in Birmingham, which will host the games, on Friday, taking part in exhibition matches including wheelchair rugby.
He was greeted by nurses as he walked through Birmingham Children’s Hospital to celebrate the 20th anniversary of a specialist nursing programme funded by the charity WellChild. He spoke about the “financial difficulties” facing the NHS.
The week-long series of events will end on Saturday when he attends Scotty’s Summer Festival at Maxstoke Castle in Warwickshire, in his role as global ambassador of Scotty’s Little Soldier, a charity supporting bereaved children and young people from military families .
Confusion over accommodation
There had been confusion over where Harry would stay throughout the week after a spokesman for the Duke said he had accepted an invitation to stay at Buckingham Palace.
The report was swiftly denied by Palace officials, who said he would not be staying there, and could no longer be accommodated.
The Prince and Princess of Wales during The Royal Charity Polo Cup at Guards Polo Club in Egham, Surrey (Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage)
The row over security
After stepping back from their roles as working royals in 2020, Harry and Meghan lost their security protection. The decision was made by Ravec, the security committee responsible for deciding whether high-profile figures are eligible for taxpayer-funded police protection in the UK.
Membership of Ravec includes representatives from the Royal Household, Home Office and Met Police, as well as Sir Clive Alderton, private secretary to the King.
Last year, Harry lost an appeal over his security provision, with a court finding there had been nothing unlawful over how the decision to revoke protection had been reached.
Earlier this month, a report commissioned by the US private security firm that protects Harry found he was the focus of six terrorist plots, five of which originated in the UK.
The report outlined dozens of threats faced by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and included an al-Qaeda document that called for Harry’s assassination, ITV News reported.
Despite the decision, experts told The i Paper that questions remain over the lack of security provision.
Additional reporting from news agencies