Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are set to appear together in public in the UK for the first time since returning, although the Duchess of Sussex is expected to keep similar engagements to a minimum.
The couple will attend several charity-focused events in Nottingham, including a community food initiative created following the Grenfell Tower disaster.
However, a friend says Meghan no longer considers herself a working royal, describing her current role instead as that of a “full-time mum and entrepreneur”.
The Sussexes are scheduled to undertake three quasi-royal engagements across the East Midlands on Thursday. The visit marks their first official public appearance in Britain since the Queen’s funeral in 2022, while their most recent public engagement took place in Bondi, Australia, in April.
Nottingham holds particular significance for the couple, as it was the setting for their first royal walkabout together in 2017.
A source described their return nine years later as having a “really nice synergy”, while acknowledging that circumstances have changed since their previous visit.
Meghan, who had lunch in London yesterday with the hairstylist who worked on her royal wedding, is not expected to make appearances of this kind regularly.
“Her public appearances will be relatively rare. She is reading a lot of scripts at the moment. If she has time left after all of that, she will do some charity work,” a source close to the Sussexes said.
“But she’s not a working royal. Her schedule is not built around a programme arranged by a private secretary. She’s a full-time mum and entrepreneur, and that alone involves a great deal of time and effort.”
Meghan is also planning to bring her lifestyle brand, As Ever, to the UK before the end of the year.
Meghan and Harry are pursuing different professional paths, with Meghan now viewing herself primarily as a “full-time mum and entrepreneur”. The couple were last seen at a public engagement in Bondi, Australia, in April.
Harry remains focused on his charitable commitments, particularly the Invictus Games, while Meghan is concentrating on her business interests and a possible return to acting.
“They have different professional priorities,” one source told the Telegraph.
“Prince Harry’s priorities are philanthropic work and public service. Her focus is her family and children, followed by her business and then restarting her acting career.”
During Thursday’s visit, the Sussexes will call at three Nottingham charities, including the Community Recording Studio, where Meghan is expected to join an acting workshop.
They will also visit the Himmah food bank, the Hubb Community Kitchen and Epic Partners, an organisation providing sports mentoring to children between the ages of four and 18.
Hubb Community Kitchen was founded after the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017, which claimed 72 lives, and has remained a cause especially close to Meghan’s heart.
The Duchess contributed the foreword to the group’s 2018 cookbook, Together.
Meghan has had a particularly busy fortnight, unveiling a new advent calendar and announcing a partnership with Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai.
To mark the International Day of the Girl on October 11, she is donating one day’s proceeds from all As Ever jam and tea sales in support of Yousafzai’s charity, the Malala Fund.
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Although the Daily Mail’s Alison Boshoff revealed that this may end up being less than the £2,000 value of the trousers she wore when they met at Claridge’s last week.
On Sunday, alongside a shot of her grinning at that tea, as Malala looked solemn, the Duchess shared a joint statement from the pair.
‘When we support the girls today, we empower the women of tomorrow. Access to education is the key to unlocking this,’ she said.
She then told her 4.9million followers: ‘This International Day of the Girl, in partnership with Archewell Philanthropies, 100 per cent of net proceeds from As Ever jams and teas will support Malala Fund and its vital work to ensure every girl has access to free safe quality education. Tea for Two has never felt so good. Shop at asever.com’.
Her office this week declined to confirm any sales figures from Sunday.
Even a generous extrapolation from the only available data suggests a day of proceeds from tea and jam will add around £1,900 to the Malala Fund coffers.
Meghan with Nobel Peace Prize-winner Malala after a ‘private’ tea at Claridge’s last week
Despite becoming increasingly active in the UK, including through a number of visits to London, the couple have yet to meet King Charles and remain estranged from the Prince and Princess of Wales.
One source claimed the Sussexes have taken their Christmas plans into their own hands because they ‘know they’re not invited’ to Sandringham.
It would be ‘too difficult and awkward’ to spend Christmas with the Royal Family, a friend said.
‘They won’t be having Christmas with the Royal Family. How could that even work? They know it would be too awkward and too difficult. They also know they’re not going to be invited, and they’re not waiting for an invitation.
‘For Thanksgiving and Christmas, they will do whatever Doria wants to do. They would love her to come over to the UK and spend it with them here, but they will be wherever she wants to be.’
The friend added: ‘He [Harry] has not yet seen the King, who is still in Scotland, but it will happen.’
The couple are expected to spend the festive period with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, 70, who lives less than a two-hour drive from their Montecito home.
Another friend told the Daily Mail that the Sussexes are trying to ‘keep their heads down between now and Christmas’, when they will return to California for the holidays.
Harry and Meghan are understood to be planning to spend school holidays and half-term breaks either in California or Portugal, where they also own a property.
Ms Ragland has been a constant presence in the family’s life since the couple stepped down as senior royals and relocated to the United States in 2020. She lives in a bungalow in an affluent residential area outside Los Angeles and has formed a particularly close bond with her grandchildren.
As for Archie and Lilibet’s other grandparents, King Charles and Queen Camilla saw them in person for the first time in four years at Highgrove in July.
It is understood Harry remains in contact with his father by phone. The monarch is enjoying an extended summer and autumn break at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
Harry and the Prince of Wales have not spoken since 2022.