Meeting Queen may clear the way for Sussexes to join jubilee party
‘Olive branch’ offered to Harry and Meghan fuels speculation they will be welcome at celebrations
THE Queen’s meeting with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex could pave the way for the couple to join the Royal family at the Platinum Jubilee celebrations this summer.
Royal experts say the Queen will be hoping the family can present a “united front” for the celebrations of Her Majesty’s 70 years on the throne.
The Queen’s private meeting with the couple on Thursday came just after the Duke met his father, the Prince of Wales, for a full half-hour.
The Duke and Duchess visited Windsor on their way from their home in California to the Invictus Games in the Netherlands.
Yesterday, the couple hitched rides on mini Land Rovers for what was only their second public appearance together in Europe since quitting Royal family duties.
There have been doubts about whether the Duke and Duchess would travel to Britain for the jubilee celebrations, with the Duke saying his family would not be safe visiting the UK following the Government’s decision not to provide them with police protection.
The Duke is seeking a judicial review of the decision – one of the reasons he gave for not attending the memorial service for his grandfather last month.
But heavy security surrounding an event like the jubilee may persuade him to attend with his wife and their children, Archie and Lilibet.
That could see the Sussexes appear with the rest of the wider Royal family for the first time since they quit Britain amid growing tensions.
Ingrid Seward, the editor-in-large of Majesty magazine, told The Sunday Telegraph: “The Queen is all about forgiveness – look at Fergie and Andrew – and she would certainly be happy to have Harry and Meghan around her for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
“Their meeting shows an olive branch has been offered to them and she will be hoping they accept it. She wants to present a united family on an occasion like the jubilee.”
The Duke and his father are understood to have had a “warm family meeting”, with little of the tension that has soured the atmosphere between them in the past two years.
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, joined the trio halfway through for a cup of tea and “a chat”.
Prince Charles is known to have been deeply upset by the Duke and Duchess’s damaging Oprah Winfrey interview.
The Duke accused the Prince of failing to support him and of cutting him off financially, causing a rift between the pair.
But palace sources scotched suggestions the meeting was a “summit” designed to repair relationships, describing it instead as a normal family meeting between father and son.
A source said yesterday: “The Prince loves both of his children very much.”
Although the Prince and his younger son have not spoken much over the past year, palace sources say the heir to the throne does not want to alienate him further and wants to maintain friendly relations.
Ms Seward added: “Neither the Queen nor Prince Charles like confrontation and they don’t want to push Harry and Meghan away.”
However, it was notable the Windsor visit coincided with Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge being on a skiing trip in the French Alps, leaving the two brothers with no opportunity to meet to resolve their own issues.
A source added: “William and Harry will have to settle their differences face to face, if that’s what they want. But the problems between them have gone on for a long time and it will be difficult.”
The Sussexes yesterday said Ukraine deserves better, in a call for more support for Kyiv in its fight against Russia.
“The world is united with you, but still you deserve more,” the Duke told the Ukrainian team at the opening ceremony of his Invictus Games last night in Zuiderpark in The Hague.
His support was echoed by wife, who said “Slava Ukraini”, meaning “glory to Ukraine”.
Earlier, the Duchess cheered on her husband as he helped navigate an electric Land Rover Defender around an offroad obstacle course, which had just played host to the games’ first event.
The Duchess then climbed into the back of a miniature replica being driven by five-year-old Mya Poirot, whose father, a French military veteran, had just secured the gold medal.