LONDON (AP) – Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have met Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle on their first visit to the UK together since they gave up their formal royal roles and moved to the United States more than two years ago.
The couple’s office say they visited the 95-year-old Queen, Harry’s grandmother, on Thursday on her way to the Netherlands to attend the Invictus Games. Harry is the founder and patron of the international sports competition for wounded military veterans.
Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior working royals and relocated to North America in 2020, citing the unbearable pressure of their roles and the racist attitude of the British media.
The couple, also known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, lost their taxpayer-funded police station when they walked away, and Harry is suing the UK government for refusing to let him pay for his own police security on his visits to the UK, lawyers say Harry said he wanted to bring his children – Archie, who is almost 3 years old, and Lilibet, 10 months – to his home country, but without police protection it was too risky.
Harry and Meghan are expected to attend a reception in The Hague on Friday for the Invictus Games, which run from Saturday to April 22nd.
The visit to the Queen took place on Maundy Thursday, a day in the week before Easter, which the Queen for decades marked by handing out silver coins, known as ‘green money’, to pensioners at a church service. This year, the Queen, who has been suffering from mobility issues in recent months and fell ill with COVID-19 in February, did not attend. She was represented by her eldest son, Prince Charles, and his wife Camilla.
The monarch is also expected to miss the royal family’s service on Easter Sunday. She has continued to perform royal duties, including virtual audiences with politicians and diplomats.