Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Reportedly Only Got 15 Minutes with the Queen Last Weekend
“It was a quick in and out job. It was all quite formal.”
Yesterday Marie Claire reported that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s recent visit to the U.K. for Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee wasn’t likely what they hoped it would be, as they apparently ran into a brick wall trying to mend fences with the royal family.
One of the couple’s highlights of their time in the U.K., surely, was introducing one-year-old Lilibet Diana to her namesake, the Queen, at Windsor Castle (Her Majesty’s familial nickname is Lilibet)—the first time the two had ever met, and the first time Her Majesty had seen great-grandson Archie in person since the Sussex step back from life as working royals in January 2020.
But, as more details emerge from last weekend, according to The Sun, the Sussexes and the Queen didn’t have much time together: only 15 minutes, the outlet reports.
“It was a quick in and out job,” a source told the outlet. “It was all quite formal.”
Granted, the Queen’s schedule was jam-packed for the Platinum Jubilee, which celebrated her historic 70 years on the throne. Thursday was filled with Trooping the Colour and lighting the Beacons for the Jubilee. Friday, though she wasn’t in attendance physically, was her Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Saturday, though again she watched from Windsor Castle, was the Derby at Epsom Downs and the Platinum Party at the Palace, and Sunday was the Platinum Jubilee Pageant followed by her third and final balcony appearance of the weekend.
For their part, the Sussexes watched Trooping the Colour from the Major General’s Office on Thursday, attended the aforementioned Service of Thanksgiving on Friday, celebrated Lili’s first birthday—including a backyard garden party at their U.K. home, Frogmore Cottage—and flew out Sunday. As the royals might say, all diaries were quite full, and we also know the Queen was experiencing discomfort after Thursday’s festivities.
Still, The Sun reports, “the pair were then kept at arm’s length by senior royals during the Jubilee. They jetted back to California last Sunday before celebrations had finished and Harry was soon seeing [sic] playing polo again back home.”
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And, opposed to the photo we got of Her Majesty meeting Harry and Meghan’s son Archie after his birth in May 2019, we still haven’t seen a photo of the moment—however brief it may have been—that Lilibet met Lili.
Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.