Prince Harry interview - live: Royal deflects question about whether he misses his brother and father

In his NBC interview, Prince Harry opened up about how much he enjoyed being reunited with his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, during his and Meghan Markle’s surprise visit.

“Being with her was great, it was just so nice to see her. She was on great form, she’s always got a great sense of humour,” the royal said during a preview clip of the interview shared during NBC’s Nightly News with Lester Holt on Tuesday.

That trip marked the first time that Prince Harry and Meghan have been in Europe together since they stepped back from their roles as senior members of the royal family in March 2020 and relocated to California.

You can read more about that here.

The Queen is set to spend her 96th birthday today in "modest" fashion at a farmhouse beloved by Prince Philip.

According to Mail Online, Queen Elizabeth II will travel by helicopter to her family's estate at Sandringham in Norfolk on Wednesday to stay at Wood Farm, where her late husband lived after retiring from public life.

Friends and family will visit her there over the next few days. Buckingham Palace is not planning any major publicevents to make her birthday.

The context is that the Queen's advanced age and mobility issues have cast doubt on the extent of her involvement in public celebrations for her platinum jubilee this June.

If you ever wanted to see his royal highness the Duke of Sussex, sixth in line to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, driving around in a tiny little car, today is your lucky day.

As part of the Invictus Games, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were chauffeured around a very small track in very small Land Rovers driven by children, which was thankfully caught on video.

In his speech at the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games on Saturday, Prince Harry detailed an ambitious career plan for his three-year-old son Archie.

While the toddler is currently alternating between wanting to be an astronaut and a pilot, the Duke also revealed that on some days he wants to be Kwazii from the children’s TV show Octonauts.

Kwazii is an animated orange cat with a Cockney accent who explores the ocean with his animal compatriots. The Octonauts Wiki describes him as a “daredevil cat with a mysterious pirate past”.

“If you’re laughing, then you’ve seen [the show]," said the Duke.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have hired a former US Secret Service agent who once protected presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush, according to reports.

Page Six, the gossip section of the New York Post, reported on Tuesday that former protection agent Christopher Sanchez has been photographed with the Sussexes at the Invictus Games.

Mr Sanchez left the Secret Service in 2013 and is now a vice president at the private security firm TorchStone Global.

"Secret Service agents are the best in the world at what we do," he said in a podcast interview in 2020. "I spent five years on the president’s details and I was lucky enough to be there during a transition, so I spent the last two-and-a-half years with President Bush and the first two-and-a-half years of President Obama. I was just grateful to be a part of it."

The Sussexes' security has been a matter of controversy between them and the Windsors. Prince Harry has his own private protection team, but following his retirement from official duties he has argued that they do not have enough legal powers abroad or access to UK intelligence.

The Duke is currently suing the British Home Office to overturn its refusal to provide police security while he visits the UK, arguing that he "does not feel safe" and is happy to pay for it.

As we wait for Prince Harry’s new interview to broadcast, let’s look at the political background behind his latest spot with American TV networks.

The royal family’s invitation to the Sussexes to join Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee celebrations this summer is a significant move, given their past tensions with the rest of “the Firm”.

The pair resigned from royal duties in March 2020, and later spoke out about their treatment behind the scenes in a 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.

If they do attend, they will be able to appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony and at family events, such as a service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral.However, the Sussexes will reportedly not be allowed an official role in any events and could not take part in the Trooping the Colour ceremony.

According to The Telegraph:

"Aides concede that while the Sussexes’ presence would mean a lot to Her Majesty, it would take a leap of faith from all sides following the bitter fallout caused by the damaging allegations the couple have made in a string of television interviews since moving abroad.

“Prince Harry would also have to swallow his pride over the ongoing legal wrangle concerning his security after saying his family would not be safe visiting the UK following the Government’s decision not to provide them with police protection."

Either way it will be a poignant occasion. The Queen’s age (95) and increasingly frail health mean it could be her last balcony appearance with all her family around her.

That’s all the previews we’re getting tonight, so when and where will Prince Harry’s new interview be airing?

NBC’s Today show will broadcast at 7am eastern US time on Wednesday 20 April, which is 2pm for people in the UK.

American viewers can also watch it online via NBC’s website, if they have a TV package that includes NBC, or the Peacock streaming service.

However, viewers in the western half of the US will get it two hours late due to America’s odd TV time zone rules, which stagger network broadcasts over two “regions” designed to cover the country’s many timezones.

Viewers outside the US might be able to watch via a VPN, but NBC’s streaming services often refuse to play if they detect you using such software.

Either way, The Independent will be watching and will continue to post live updates on this blog.

Prince Harry has revealed that he took the opportunity to make sure that his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, is “protected” and has the “right people around her” during his and Meghan Markle’s recent visit, Chelsea Ritschel reports.

Asked how it felt to be reunited with the Queen, Harry said: “I’m just making sure that she’s, you know, protected, and got the right people around her.”

Read Chelsea’s full story here.

California now feels like “home” to Prince Harry, at least “for the time being”.

In preview footage from his interview with NBC’s Hoda Kotb, the Duke of Sussex said he had adjusted well to the Golden State, my colleague Chelsea Ritschel reports.

“Home for me now is, for the time being, it’s in the States,” Harry said. “And it feels that way as well. We’ve been welcomed with open arms.”

Your highness, I know the feeling.

Here’s the first pictures from Prince Harry’s NBC interview, in which he was questioned by veteran TV host Hoda Kotb.