Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BACK IN THE FOLD
All smiles as Harry and Meghan get party invite
PRINCE Harry and Meghan were welcomed back into the royal fold after the Queen declared all her family should be together for her Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in their first joint UK public appearance since they quit their royal roles two years ago to live in the United States, kept an uncharacteristic low profile during the Trooping the Colour parade.
Harry, who had a bitter fallout with his father Prince Charles and brother Prince William after claiming they were “trapped” by their positions as future kings, refused to be seen as they watched the Queen’s birthday parade.
The pair, who have reportedly earned £100million since quitting The Firm in favour of seeking “financial independence”, promised Her Majesty they would “do nothing to overshadow” her historic weekend.
Sources close to the couple have revealed they were “perhaps understandably nervous” ahead of their trip.
They came face to face yesterday with the Duchess of Cambridge for the first time since slating the Royal Family in an interview with US chat show queen Oprah Winfrey.
That bombshell two-hour chat, watched by more than 80 million people worldwide, included Harry and Meghan accusing a senior royal of racism – with the unnamed person allegedly questioning how dark their unborn children would be.
Former actress Meghan, 40, sent further shockwaves through the monarchy by revealing she became suicidal after feeling abandoned by the family when she was pregnant with her first child, Archie, now three.
Courtiers had privately questioned what kind of atmosphere would emerge when Meghan and Kate met for the first time since the Sussexes departure from royal life.
Meghan, in the Oprah interview, railed against the Palace for refusing to correct a story that she had made Kate, 40, cry at a dress fitting before her wedding to Harry.
Palace aides reacted with horror when Meghan claimed that the opposite had occurred and Kate had made her cry, without giving further details.
But yesterday in remarkable scenes, which royal sources admitted they
They have promised that they will not overshadow celebrations ROYAL SOURCE ON MEGHAN AND HARRY
thought would be “unlikely” to ever happen, Meghan and Harry, 37, were pictured smiling and joking after watching the Trooping ceremony from the Major General’s Office overlooking Horse Guards Parade.
Meghan was pictured giving a playful “shush” to the daughters of Zara and Mike Tindall – Mia, eight, and
Lena, three. She also shared a joke with Savannah Phillips, 11, the daughter of Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips.
The couple chatted to the Duke of Kent, 86, the Queen’s cousin, who stood alongside Her Majesty on the Buckingham Palace balcony to watch the final part of the Trooping parade.
A royal source said: “It’s fair to say that things between the duke and duchess and the rest of the family have
been strained. But so far, they have kept to their promise that they wouldn’t overshadow the celebrations.”
Harry sought guarantees his family would get police protection while in the UK after security was taken away.
He has been engaged in a bitter legal row with the Home Office over the decision to remove his protected status, leading him to claim in court that he was “unable to return home” because it is too dangerous. Harry was told he would be guarded by Met Police officers when attending the Jubilee celebrations but it would not be there during private events.
The Queen extended an olive branch by sending her private car to meet the Sussexes when they arrived from California on Wednesday.
THE newly honoured Dame Arlene Foster has welcomed a move by Sinn Fein deputy leader Michelle O’neill to write to the Queen on her Platinum Jubilee.
Ms O’neill praised the monarch’s “significant” contribution to the Stormont peace process and acknowledged her “dedicated public service to the British people” during her 70 years on the throne.
She also thanked the Queen for her “warmth and unfailing courtesy” on the occasions when the pair have met and described the “value and respect” she had for the monarch’s contribution to reconciliation.
Dame Arlene, who received her damehood in the Queen’s Jubilee birthday honours, welcomed Ms O’neill’s gesture.
The former DUP leader said the Platinum Jubilee celebrated three things – the Queen’s public service and dedication, the institution of the monarchy and the concept of Britishness.
She told BBC Radio Ulster: “I think for republicans, like Michelle O’neill, like Nicola Sturgeon, they have recognised in Her
Majesty the Queen the first of those, the fact that she has given so much service to the country.
“They’re recognising that and I think that is something that is to be welcomed.”
Ms O’neill’s letter to the Queen, sent late last month, describes her Platinum Jubilee as a “historic moment”.
The Sinn Fein
deputy leader also refers to the Queen’s landmark meetings with the party in the past decade.
In 2012 she shook hands with Martin Mcguinness, the former
IRA commander turned deputy First Minister, during a visit to Northern Ireland.
And in 2014, Mr Mcguinness joined in a toast to the Queen during a State banquet at Windsor Castle held in honour of Irish President Michael D Higgins.
In her letter to the Queen, Ms O’neill wrote: “I thought it best to write to you personally as you mark 70 years of dedicated public service to the British people as Monarch.
“Your Platinum Jubilee is a historic moment, especially for all
Your Jubilee is a historic moment, especially for all those who hold you very dear
MICHELLE O’NEILL IN LETTER TO THE QUEEN
those from the unionist and British tradition on the island of Ireland and across these islands whom with great pride and devotion hold you very dear.
“Personally, I wish to thank you for your warmth and unfailing courtesy on the occasions in which both I and my late colleague, Martin Mcguinness, met with you in Belfast in 2012 during your Diamond Jubilee, and thereafter at Windsor
Castle during the
State visit of President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins to the UK in 2014.
“I wish to record the value and respect I place on the significant contribution you have made to the advancement of peace and reconciliation between the different traditions on our island, and between our two islands during those years of the peace process.
“As incoming First Minister of the Northern Ireland Executive I, like you, will take every opportunity to strengthen the bonds of friendship and renew the spirit of co-operation between those of us in the world of politics and public life from different traditions, and also the people and communities we proudly represent.”
In February, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou Mcdonald congratulated the Queen on her Platinum Jubilee for a “lifetime of service”.
It came as Stormont’s Assembly Commission agreed to plant a tree in the grounds of Parliament Buildings to mark the occasion.
The move followed a row in which Sinn Fein Finance Minister Conor Murphy was accused of blocking the planting of a tree in the Stormont estate.
But Mr Murphy insisted he was following existing policies. He later announced plans to review the rules.
They’re recognising the Queen’s public service... that is to be welcomed ARLENE FOSTER PRAISES SINN FEIN’S MESSAGE