Prince Harry and Meghan Markle received a mixed reception in Nottingham during their first joint quasi-royal engagement on Thursday, met by adoring fans and orders to "p*** off".
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex declared it was "great to be back" on British soil while greeting crowds in the style of a traditional royal walkabout this week. Despite a lacklustre initial turnout where press outweighed fans, they had drawn crowds of hundreds by the end of the afternoon.
Mixed Sentiment in the City
While supporters described seeing Harry and Meghan in the flesh as "wonderful" and labelled them "inspirational", the duke and duchess couldn't claim to have won over the city in its entirety. Away from the bouquets and cheering lining the various engagement spots - three charities the couple has worked with previously - sentiment tended to sour.
John Bird, 78, said with little prompting that Harry and Meghan could "p*** off". David Harker, 56, went a step further and labelled the duchess "nauseating and entitled". He suggested the couple "made a rod for their own backs" by denigrating the Royal Family while in the US, only to try reintegrating in Britain.
"They're not particularly welcome, to be honest," he said, before clarifying that he was referring to both their Nottingham trip and return to the UK as a whole.
Criticism and Calls for Apology
Linda Wells, 67, told the Express: "I'm not sure about those two because of what he's done, what he's said and written about the King and his family. You should keep that private. They need to apologise properly. I'm not a big fan."
Her husband Mick, 76, insisted a return to working royal status is simply "not going to happen" for the couple, despite speculation that they are pursuing a "half in, half out" deal, combining part-time royal duties with a wider independent status.
Sue Harrison also said she thought the trip suggested Harry and Meghan "want to get back into [the Royal Family's] good books". Asked if they have much chance of succeeding, she said: "If they've got a head on their shoulders, no. I'm sorry."
"Harry's changed a lot," she added. "When he's with Meghan, I don't think he wants to know his family."
Supporters and the Visit's Context
The crowds gathered to greet the Sussexes and wave them off were, unsurprisingly, much more forgiving. Irene Hardman, 90, got a kiss on the cheek from both Meghan and Harry after showing them a framed photograph from their 2017 visit to Nottingham, their first joint appearance after announcing their engagement.
She told the Express: "It was absolutely wonderful to see them. They were much the same." Mary Cooper, 69, added: "We're hoping for a reconciliation [with the King] at some point. They're invaluable as working royals and they're doing all the same charity work."
Shagofta Akhtar, 53, said: "I wanted to come in person and give Meghan flowers and show her how much we love her. She gets a lot of negative publicity, but she's a woman of colour, an inspiration, an ambassador of peace. I wanted to come and say 'thank you for coming to Nottingham, we love you, keep up the good work'."
The visit marked Meghan's first UK appearance since the Queen's funeral in 2022. The high-profile events were not official royal engagements, with a letter to Government stakeholders authorised by the King last month confirming that the Sussexes remain "private citizens", although they bore many of the hallmarks of such. In keeping with the traditional structure, the scores of photographers and journalists gathered outside were kept behind barriers, as were the crowds of well-wishers, some clutching flowers and balloons, while media access inside the event was pooled.
