Prince Harry and Meghan Markle make secret visit to see Queen ahead of Invictus Games
Visit follows Harry’s absence from Duke of Edinburgh’s memorial service last month
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Your support makes all the difference.The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have made a secret visit to the Queen before flying to The Hague for an appearance at the Invictus Games.
Prince Harry and Meghan are also reported to have met with Prince Charles during their visit to Windsor Castle on Thursday.
The pair have not been in Britain together since they stood down as senior working royals in January 2020.
Their visit to the Queen follows Harry’s absence from the Duke of Edinburgh’s memorial service in London last month.
The duke is in the process of bringing a claim against the Home Office after being told he would no longer have access the same degree of personal protective security when visiting from the US, despite having offered to foot the bill himself.
The prince hopes to bring his two children, Archie and Lilibet, to visit the UK, but his legal representative said he and his family are “unable to return to his home” because it is too dangerous.
A spokesperson for the duke confirmed earlier in March that he would miss the service for his grandfather, Prince Philip, but that he hoped to visit the Queen soon.
It follows comments made by Dai Davies, a former head of royal protection at Scotland Yard, earlier this week that the idea Prince Harry is unable to come to the UK due to safety concerns is “sheer unadulterated nonsense”, adding the duke is “not an expert in security”.
Speaking about the likely security arrangements during the Invictus Games, Mr Davies said: “The truth is I have no doubt that he will be protected, whether he takes his own team or whether the Dutch authorities give him some kind of VIP status.
“The truth is, if there’s a risk, both countries – ours and the Netherlands – have sophisticated systems of determining risk.
“This country has determined he is no longer at risk. That may or may not be true, but people far better qualified than I am now can make that decision and they never make it lightly.”
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is involved in looking after royals in the Netherlands, he said, but added that, while there is a royal protection squad, it is not as big or as experienced as the squad in the UK.
Meghan’s attendance at the Invictus Games was confirmed by a spokesperson for the couple on Monday.
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