Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were spotted in high spirits as they left Windsor this morning en-route to Manchester for a public appearance later today.
The pair are heading to the opening ceremony of the One Young World Summit, where Meghan is expected to give a speech - her first in the UK since quitting as a senior working royal. Pictures show the couple beaming at each other and laughing as they left the grounds of Frogmore Cottage on the Windsor estate where they have been staying to head north. They left in a convoy of Range Rovers and comes amid reports that the couple will be protected by a "ring of steel" while they are in the UK.
They were later spotted at Euston Station in central London, where they are thought to have caught a train to Manchester.
Meghan could be seen in a a pair of tanned brown wide-legged trousers and matching heels with her hair pulled back into a ponytail, while Harry wore navy chinos and a matching jacket.
The trip comes just days after Meghan’s wide-ranging interview with The Cut magazine in which she said it takes “a lot of effort” to forgive and hinted that she can “say anything”.
The former Suits actress said that “just by existing” she and Harry were “upsetting the dynamic of the hierarchy” before they stepped down as senior working royals in 2020.
Their first stop in the UK today is the One Young World summit, an event which brings together young leaders from more than 190 countries.
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Meghan, a counsellor for the organisation, will give the keynote address at the opening ceremony.
The pair will also meet a group of summit delegates doing “outstanding work on gender equality”, One Young World said.
Next stop is Germany for the Invictus Games Dusseldorf 2023 One Year To Go event which is taking place on Tuesday, before they return to the UK for the WellChild Awards in London where Harry will deliver a speech on Thursday.
Their visit to the UK will be the first time they have been back in the country since the Jubilee celebrations in early June, when they attended the service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral.
The trip falls in the same week the new prime minister is due to be announced and asked to form a government by the Queen.
The monarch will appoint a new prime minister at Balmoral for the first time in her reign.
The 96-year-old, who has faced ongoing mobility issues, traditionally holds audiences with outgoing and incoming premiers at Buckingham Palace.
It is not known whether Harry and Meghan will visit the Queen in Balmoral during their trip.
An article by Sunday Times royal editor Roya Nikkhah included a quote from a royal source which says it is hard to see that what Harry and Meghan are doing “would equate to the values of the Queen, who has never encouraged people to discuss deeply personal family relationships in public”.
When stepping away from their roles as senior royals, Harry and Meghan promised that “everything they do will continue to uphold the values of Her Majesty”.
The newspaper said a source who knows the Queen well said: “She doesn’t want to be on tenterhooks all the time, waiting to see what the next nuclear bomb will be – that will take its toll.”
