Meghan and Harry are set to make their first joint public appearance since returning to the UK as “private citizens” this week, with a series of unofficial, quasi-royal engagements planned across the East Midlands.
After Meghan’s lunch with Malala at Claridge’s and Harry’s eventful appearance at a rugby match, the couple will attend several charity initiatives in Nottingham. Their itinerary includes a community food project created in response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
The Duchess of Sussex, 45, has also been named the latest face of a Los Angeles charity that supports single mothers. For the campaign, she wore a £76 ($100) sweatshirt that has already sold out.
The cream-and-brown jumper features the words “It’s the little things” embroidered across the back and one sleeve, and was apparently selected by Meghan herself.
She highlighted the limited-edition design shortly after posting footage of Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, riding scooters across a grand English estate while deer moved through the grounds.
Harry, meanwhile, attended the rugby in Leicester on Friday, where the crowd booed when he appeared on the stadium screen.
The Sussexes are expected to visit three Nottingham charities on Thursday, including the Community Recording Studio, where Meghan is scheduled to join an acting workshop. According to one source, she will “definitely” return to acting on stage and screen.
The comments come amid speculation that Meghan is hoping to land a role in the next season of Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series The Gentlemen. A friend said: “She’s been sent lots of scripts, which she’s looking at.”
Meghan posted a photograph of herself wearing the sold-out limited-edition sweatshirt, styling it with a blue-and-white pinstripe shirt and a chunky silver ring
Harry was booed while watching the Premiership clash between Leicester Tigers and Gloucester on Friday evening
The Duchess recently shared footage of the couple’s children riding scooters across a country estate as deer passed nearby
Meghan and Harry have only appeared together in a video Meghan shared since returning to the UK in late August
The couple will also visit the Himmah food bank, the Hubb Community Kitchen and Epic Partners, a charity that provides sports mentoring for children aged between four and 18.
Hubb was founded after the Grenfell Tower fire, which claimed 72 lives in June 2017, and has remained one of Meghan’s key causes. She wrote the foreword for the group’s 2018 cookbook, Together.
Although the Sussexes have become more visible in the UK, including through several trips to London, they have still not met King Charles and remain estranged from the Prince and Princess of Wales.
One source said the couple had made their own Christmas arrangements because they “know they’re not invited” to Sandringham.
A friend said spending the holiday with the Royal Family would be “too difficult and awkward.”
“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.”
The friend continued: “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.
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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.
Meghan and Malala Yousafzai shared a joint statement on Instagram to announce the partnership, alongside two photos of the pair enjoying afternoon tea at Claridge’s (pictured)
Meghan has also been working full-time on her brand As Ever, which on Sunday announced 100 per cent of net profits from her teas and jams would be donated to the Malala Fund for the duration of International Day of the Girl.
The collaboration with Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai was revealed after the women were pictured outside Claridge’s in central London last Wednesday.
The pair were photographed in a warm embrace after they dined in the world-famous Foyer and Reading Room, where afternoon tea costs £95 per person.
The London meet-up was Meghan’s first public appearance in the capital since Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September 2022.
The Duchess also launched a luxury $148 (£112) Christmas advent calendar as part of her As Ever brand this month, inspired by the family’s Montecito mansion.
The limited-edition product was created for US customers in collaboration with Los Angeles chocolatier Compartes. It is not available to buy for delivery to the UK.
However, there was a row when some Church of England vicars suggested their followers should buy a cheaper, charity one.
It led to one having to lockdown his social media after an onslaught from trolls claiming to be supporters of the Duchess.
Prince Harry and Meghan know it would be ‘too difficult and awkward’ to spend Christmas with King Charles and the wider family, a friend has claimed (pictured at Sandringham in 2018)
Meanwhile, Harry was booed as he watched the Premiership match between Leicester Tigers and Gloucester on Friday night. It was enough for TV commentator Nick Mullins to quip: ‘Well, that wasn’t overly welcoming, was it?’
The duke sat in the stands with his cousin George McCorquodale.
They were accompanied by Andrea Pinchen, the Tigers’ chief executive. A passionate rugby fan, Harry was patron of the Rugby Football Union from 2016 until 2021.
His night out comes amid the Sussexes’ ongoing battle to get taxpayer-funded police protection in Britain. The couple previously mounted an unsuccessful legal challenge over Harry’s police security while he was visiting from the US.
It is understood now that the committee overseeing royal and VIP security, known as Ravec, is to reconsider the level of police protection now the couple and their two children are full-time residents.