The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are preparing for their first joint public outing in Britain in four years, as they head to Nottingham for a series of scheduled engagements.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will visit three organisations across the city on Thursday, meeting youngsters and local community groups as part of a day centred around youth support, food poverty and mentoring.
Return to England
The couple returned to England in August, six years after stepping away from their duties as senior working royals and relocating to the US in what became widely known as Megxit. Their forthcoming visit will take them to the Community Recording Studio (CRS), the Himmah Hub and Epic Partners, an organisation which supports children, young people and families through sports programmes, mentoring and education.
While the high-profile appearances won't constitute official royal engagements, they are anticipated to follow a broadly similar structure to traditional royal visits. A letter distributed to Government stakeholders and sanctioned by King Charles last month made clear that Harry and Meghan remain private citizens.
Meghan's first appearance since 2022
The correspondence is reported to have taken the couple by surprise, with the Sussexes allegedly considering themselves public figures. Thursday's visit will also represent Meghan's first public appearance at an event on British soil since the funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.
Harry and Meghan undertook their final official joint royal duty in March 2020, attending the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey alongside other members of the Royal Family. Nevertheless, the duchess is anticipated to make such public outings infrequently as she concentrates on her family commitments, her As Ever lifestyle brand and a potential return to the screen.
Diverging professional focuses
An insider revealed the pair had diverging professional focuses, with Harry committed to charitable endeavours and public duty, while Meghan's priorities lay with their youngsters and their commercial ventures.
The source said: "Prince Harry's is his philanthropic work and public service. Her focus is on her family and children, followed by her business, followed by rebooting her acting career."
"Her public appearances will be relatively rare. She is reading a lot of scripts at the moment."
They further noted that any spare time Meghan possessed would be dedicated to charitable causes, characterising her as a full-time mum and businesswoman rather than an active royal. Questions have swirled regarding how the former Suits star would occupy herself during UK visits, with suggestions emerging that she'd been in discussions about appearing in the popular Netflix drama The Gentlemen.
Yet, a confidant of Meghan informed Hello! magazine that the duchess was prepared to "stick her head above the parapet" during the Nottingham engagement.
The friend said: "She's up for it. There are still causes and there are still issues that Meghan is really passionate about supporting, and Nottingham is one of those."
Nottingham engagements
On Thursday, Harry and Meghan are set to drop by CRS, a youth and community charity based in St Ann's. The duke is scheduled to catch up with musician and poet Jah Digga, a former attendee of the studio, while Meghan will sit in on a confidence-boosting session with young girls and take part in a bracelet-making workshop.
Harry made a previous appearance at CRS last September, when he personally handed over £1.1 million to BBC Children In Need to assist young people impacted by violence. The pair will also pop into Himmah Hub, where they're expected to get stuck into a cooking class and lend a hand packing food parcels for those in need.
The visit will see Meghan reunited with women from the Hubb Community Kitchen, an initiative she championed during her time as a working royal. Back in 2018, her maiden solo venture as a member of the Royal Family saw her backing a cookbook created by the women running the community kitchen.
The collective had formed to support families touched by the Grenfell Tower tragedy in west London.
Their last port of call will be Epic Partners, an organisation backing children, young people and families across the St Ann's and Sneinton areas through youth work, sport, mentoring and education. The Nottingham engagements come after other UK trips by Harry, including his presence at the annual WellChild Awards last month.
In the meantime, the Sussexes are waiting to hear whether they'll receive taxpayer-funded security during UK visits. Harry is said to be worried about a possible hold-up following Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's announcement of an examination into security provisions for the Royal Family and prominent figures in the wake of Reform UK's justice spokeswoman Ann Widdecombe's death.
