“It’s great to be back,” the Duchess of Sussex told well-wishers outside a youth charity in Nottingham on Thursday morning. It was her first official public appearance since the family moved back to the UK in August, after six years in the US, and she arrived with Prince Harry beside her. The pair hugged people in the crowd and posed for selfies.
Three stops in one day
The first was the Community Recording Studio in St Ann’s, a charity Harry has supported since 2013. It gives young people access to music and recording, along with sport and mentoring, and aims to help those facing poverty, instability, exploitation or violence build confidence. Its CEO, Trevor Rose, told the BBC the couple had phoned only a few weeks earlier. “It’s a complete shock,” he said.
At a bracelet-making workshop Meghan said her daughter Lilibet had taken up gymnastics: “She loves it.” She offered the girls some advice too. “We have to remember to talk to ourselves like we talk to our best friends,” she said.
Later they visited Himmah Hub, a charity tackling food poverty, where they put on aprons and helped prepare food parcels. There they greeted the Grenfell “ladies”, the women who cooked for families after the tower block fire and featured in a community cookbook Meghan championed. Their third stop was Epic Partners, which supports young people through youth work, sport and mentoring.
A spokesperson told BBC News the couple were “really excited” to be back together in Nottingham, nine years since their last joint visit there. Nottingham, the spokesperson said, is “a special place” for them: it is where they made their first joint appearance after announcing their engagement in 2017.
Private citizens, royal schedule
The couple stepped down as working royals in January 2020, moved to Southern California and launched Archewell Inc., a Beverly Hills-based mix of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. They have no plans to resume public duties as working royals, and the Royal Household views them as private citizens. They visited Nottingham as supporters of the projects, though the schedule had a distinctly royal feel. A private security team travelled with them and local police were understood to be aware.
Meghan’s own projects run separately: the podcast Archetypes, the children’s book The Bench, the Netflix series Harry & Meghan and With Love, Meghan, and the lifestyle brand As Ever, launched in April 2025. The family is reportedly settled in the Cotswolds, and the children have changed schools after the security team raised concerns about the school run. The committee that oversees royal and VIP security, Ravec, is reconsidering their police protection now that they live in Britain full time.
Christmas will be elsewhere. BBC News understands the Sussexes will not join the King at Sandringham and are likely to spend it privately with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland. The King’s former butler, Mr Harrold, told GB News he expects them to head back to California, where “their friends and Meghan’s family” are.
Sources
- Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
- Meghan makes first official public appearance since moving back to UK
- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle issued dire 3-word warning over Christmas
Photo: Mines Advisory Group (CC BY 2.0)
