Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s U.K. Return Will Be ‘Very Strange’ Without a Royal Family Visit, Author Says
TL;DR:
- Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are returning to the U.K. in September 2022.
- They will also visit Germany.
- A royal author says the couple and other British royals are likely “acutely aware” of how “strange” it will look if no family visit happens.
- They also say Prince Harry’s memoir may discourage royals from making plans.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are, once again, heading back across the pond. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are returning to the U.K. in September 2022. They’ll also make a stop in Germany. But is a visit with the British royal family scheduled? An author says it will be “strange” if Harry and Meghan don’t meet with other royals.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle last visited the U.K. in June 2022
Meghan and Harry visited the U.K. just months ago. With their children in tow, the pair went to England in June 2022. They were there for Platinum Jubilee weekend, celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne.
Ahead of the visit, there’d been much speculation surrounding the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s participation. Would they make many public appearances during the four days of festivities? What about Trooping the Colour? Would they stand on the Buckingham Palace balcony?
Queen Elizabeth answered the balcony question ahead of their visit. She invited only senior “working” royals to join her. When the monarch’s birthday parade came around on June 2, 2022, Meghan and Harry kept a low profile. They watched from a nearby building with other royals.
Only later, on June 3, 2022, did they make their one and only official appearance. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended a Service of Thanksgiving in Queen Elizabeth’s honor. Notably, they sat in the second row. Meanwhile, Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Charles, and Camilla Parker Bowles sat in the front row on the opposite side of St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Meghan and Harry later skipped the jubilee parade and headed home. But not before hosting a casual birthday party for their 1-year-old daughter, Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.
Author says Harry, Meghan, and royals are ‘acutely aware’ it will look ‘strange’ if no visit happens during September 2022 return to the U.K.
“The question still hanging over their visit is how they will interact with other members of the royal family,” Pauline MacLaran, co-author of Royal Fever: The British Monarchy in Consumer Culture, told Express.
MacLaran, who is also a professor of marketing and consumer research at the Royal Holloway School of Management, continued. “It will be very strange if they come and don’t meet with any of them,” she said.
“Both the royal family and Harry and Meghan must be acutely aware of this,” she explained. “And I imagine there are currently many behind the scenes working out how the family aspect can best be handled.”
Prince Harry’s upcoming memoir may play a role in whether or not a royal family visit happens
MacLaran also mentioned how Harry’s memoir, which doesn’t have a release date at the time of writing, could make some royals hesitant to make plans with the couple. They may want to steer clear of the couple when they return to the U.K., she said, because it may end up in Harry’s book.
The professor and author also added Prince Charles may have “more desire” to see Harry and Meghan during their return to the U.K. than the Duke of Cambridge as he’s Harry’s father.
