Crowds outside of St. Paul’s gave a round of hurrahs, as well as some jeers, for Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, as the couple made their first public appearance during Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee — and their first joint appearance in Britain since they quit their jobs as royals.
The couple remained behind-the-scenes on the first big day of celebrations. They weren’t invited to join the queen on the Buckingham Palace balcony. Photographers caught just a glimpse of Meghan playing with some of the queen’s great-grandchildren in a window above the Trooping the Colour military parade route.
But Harry and Meghan were allowed their moment on Friday, joining the family for a service of thanksgiving in honor of the queen.
Prince William and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, got an even bigger hand as they entered the Anglican cathedral in the heart of London. The church bells rang as Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, arrived.
There was a mixed reaction from spectators to the entrance of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife, Carrie Johnson. Some booed.
Among those not attending the service: Prince Andrew, the queen’s third child, who seems to have been largely banished from public life since he faced accusations of sexual abuse and a scandal over his friendship with convicted abuser Jeffrey Epstein.
And the queen herself was absent, watching the show on the BBC from her rooms at Windsor Castle.
The palace alerted the public that the monarch began to feel “some discomfort” at Thursday’s Trooping the Colour ceremony by British military regiments and so would not attend. She has been struggling with what the palace calls “mobility issues” in recent months and has missed a number of engagements.
Still, even after the palace announcement, she made an appearance at Windsor on Thursday night. Dressed in green, she looked steady on her feet, but perhaps tired, as she placed a gloved hand on a glittering globe, to symbolically light the beacons in Britain and around the Commonwealth.
Valerie said Harry and Meghan’s appearance will have gone down well with the British public: “I think there would have been a lot said if they hadn’t appeared. They’ve done the right thing coming back.”
Meghan and Harry remain behind the scenes on first day of jubilee celebrations
Ian said that it was good to see Harry and Meghan. “I think they wanted to be here no matter what people thought. They made their decision to be Hollywood A-listers and that’s fine. They got a good reception and they will be happy about that.”
As for Prince Charles, Ian said, “He’s a nice guy, he’s waited a long time to be king, I think he’ll be quite tolerant, I think he’ll be hugely approachable, he won’t be there forever, the future of the royal family was obvious on the [Buckingham Palace] balcony” the day before.
The Sussexes are in Britain from California with their young children, Archie, 3, and Lilibet, who will celebrate her first birthday on Saturday.
This trip marks the first time that the queen has met Lilibet in person. Harry and Meghan named their daughter after Elizabeth, using the queen’s childhood nickname.
Harry has made only a few public trips back to Britain since settling in California. In April, 2021, he attended the funeral of his grandfather Prince Philip, although he did not return this spring for Philip’s memorial, which was a much larger affair as covid restrictions had lifted. Last summer, he returned to unveil a statue of his late mother, Princess Diana.
Harry’s lawyers have said that the prince does not feel safe when he is in the U.K. because of the security arrangements that apply to him. He is bringing a claim against the British government after being informed he would no longer be given the “same degree” of personal protective security when visiting Britain. The prince offered to pay for the security himself, but Britain’s Home Office declined.
In a surprise move, the couple announced in January 2020 that they were “stepping back” as senior royals. The queen rejected their “half-in, half-out” proposal and stripped them of their royal patronages, making it clear in statements that, while the Sussexes are much-loved members of the royal family, work came first.
The Sussexes decamped to California after a short stint in Canada.
The two sides agreed to a review of the situation after 12 months. But according to royal biographer Robert Hardman, the queen was not expecting them to resume their British life. Writing in his book “Queen of Our Times,” Hardman says that the queen knew that the Sussexes were unlikely to return as senior royals.
“Asked by one well-meaning visitor if she expected them to resume royal life, she replied firmly, ‘Of course not. They took the dogs.’ ”
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