By Emily Caulkett-
Harry and Meghan Markle visited the Queen and Prince Charles on a trip to the UK, putting to bed rumours of hard feelings expected to prevent them from seeing her majesty on her birthday.
There had been much speculation that the Duke and Duchess Of Sussex would not see the Queen on her birthday, despite being in nearby Holland for the Invictus Games.
The Queen is not expected to attend this year’s Easter morning church service having already pulled out of the Maundy Service on Thursday – for the first time since 1970.
The 95-year-old monarch has mobility problems and has pulled out of several events recently, including the annual Commonwealth Service.
However, the couple quietly made the visit to see her majesty, confirming that a no show on the Queen’s birthday may just be to avoid the publicity, or the risk to their security, which they subjectively feel.
Their spokesperson has confirmed they visited the Queen before their appearance at the Invictus Games in the Hague this weekend.
Harry’s royal blood and the controversies surrounding the Oprah Winfrey interview given by he and his wife in March 2021, naturally exposes him to security risks, but the level of those risks are unknown.
The Duke has argued that he “inherited a security risk at birth”, risks amplified by further controversies that has accompanied his public life, particular his decision to step back from royal duties.
Critics have suggested that the real reason the Duke and Duchess Of Sussex were unlikely to visit the queen on her birthday was because of the forthcoming memoir this year by Harry, which he says is not about him the royal, but the man he has grown to become. It has also been suggested that his anger and disappointment about the announcement making the Duchess Of Cornwall , Camilla Parker, being made future queen.
But Prince Harry today had an opportunity to discuss her birthday with her and whether he will be seeing her in person or communicating with her some other way.
The Sussexes quit as working members of the Firm in March 2020 and have since settled in California with their two children.
Legal Action
In the meantime, Harry has began legal action against the Home Office after it refused to supply him with armed bodyguards during any future visits to Britain.
The Duke is suing the government department and claims he “does not feel safe in the UK”.
Harry and Meghan have so far won every legal battle they have taken on in the Uk.In December, Meghan won a case against The Associated Press whom she accused of breaching her privacy when the Mail published a private letter she sent to her father.
Her father, Thomas Markle, had released the letter to the press for his own purposes but a High Court ruled that the press was in breach of her privacy by publishing the whole letter.
Associated Newspapers said it was disappointed, and was considering a further appeal to the Supreme Court, though no such appeal was eventually made, perhaps due to a review of the ruling.
Harry is currently embroiled in privacy claims against News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, as well as Mirror Group Newspapers, now Reach, over alleged phone hacking and unlawful information gathering.
He is also involved in litigation against the Home Office over his security arrangements when he is in the UK.
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