Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who moved back to the UK in August, carried out their first joint engagement on Thursday, October 15. They traveled to Nottingham, where they met local residents and volunteers from several charitable organizations.
The city holds special meaning for the couple. It was the location of their first royal walkabout after announcing their engagement in 2017. This time, though, the visit landed on the same day King Charles and Queen Camilla traveled to Wales to open the Welsh Parliament, and royal experts were quick to read the overlap as an attempt by the Sussexes to stage a rival court.
Prince Harry and Meghan’s Nottingham Visit Draws Royal Criticism
On the latest episode of The Royals Uncensored, royal author Katie Nicholl questioned both the timing and the optics of the Nottingham stop.
“Despite not being working members of the royal family, the Nottingham visit sure looked like, well, to me, a royal visit,” Nicholl said. “All joking aside, there are very serious repercussions to them acting like working royals, especially when the King and Queen were in Wales today opening the Welsh Parliament. I think we all know who is going to end up on the front pages of tomorrow’s newspapers.”
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Daily Mirror Royal Editor Russell Myers was harsher, calling the trip an uninspired PR move meant to win back old headlines.
“I think it’s a lazy attempt at nostalgia because what else is there?” Myers said. “Trying to get people back to the scene of where you had a great reception after the engagement… they are kind of in this no man’s land at the moment.”
The couple’s camp painted a very different picture, with a spokesperson telling People that Harry and Meghan were āgenuinely thrilled by the love and support they receivedā from the Nottingham crowds.
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However, host Joe Elvin was not convinced, arguing that the visit undercuts the reasons the Sussexes gave for leaving the monarchy in the first place.
“What are we doing here? What are we doing? I want to sort of stand in the middle of the Nottingham streets and scream, ‘Isn’t this everything that Harry and Meghan were fleeing on the so-called freedom flight?'” Elvin said. “Isn’t this everything that they whinged about being trapped in as part of the royal family?”
The criticism goes beyond a spat over headlines. The outing also tests the terms set when the couple stepped back from senior duties. At the 2020 Sandringham summit, the royal family rejected a āhalf-in, half-outā arrangement in which the Sussexes could build a commercial brand while still representing the Crown whenever it suited them.
Judging by the walkabout, the crowds and the coverage, Nottingham looked and felt like a royal engagement in every way except the title. That is precisely the problem. If the Sussexes want the benefits of royal-style outings without the obligations, the question of where they actually stand is far from settled, and the palace is unlikely to let it stay unanswered for long.
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