King Charles III has hosted a rare private gathering of the Royal Family’s most senior working members in Scotland, just days before Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expected to return to Britain with their children.
On Tuesday evening (local time), the 77-year-old monarch welcomed Prince William, Princess Anne and Prince Edward to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, where the group shared dinner before spending the night together.
According to the Daily Mail, the gathering was what royal insiders refer to as a “dine and sleep”, held ahead of Wednesday’s Order of the Thistle service- the annual celebration of Scotland’s highest order of chivalry.
King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Prince Edward are all due to attend the ceremony.
Prince William, 44, travelled solo to Edinburgh after spending the afternoon in Aberdeen marking the third anniversary of his Homewards homelessness initiative.
Princess Anne and Prince Edward had earlier joined the King and Queen at Holyroodhouse for a garden party honouring local community leaders and dignitaries. Buckingham Palace has not commented on the private dinner.
However, its timing has attracted attention as it comes just days before the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expected to visit the UK with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Prince Harry and Meghan, who stepped down as senior working royals in 2020 before relocating to the United States, are expected to be in Britain between July 6 and July 10 for the One Year To Go Invictus Games events in Birmingham.
The Daily Mirror reports the Sussexes have also been invited to stay at a royal residence during the trip by King Charles.
If the visit goes ahead, it would mark the King’s first opportunity to see his grandchildren in Britain since the family’s visit for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022.
According to The Telegraph, Harry is considering bringing Meghan, 44, Archie and Lilibet to the UK for just one day, allowing the children to see their grandfather before returning overseas within 24 hours.
The family is believed to be holidaying in Portugal, meaning a flight to London would take less than three hours.
In a statement released on Monday, Harry’s spokesman said the Duke remains hopeful his children will be able to “enjoy the UK” if appropriate security arrangements can be put in place.
“The Duke continues to explore every available option to enable the visit to proceed safely and to give his children the opportunity to enjoy the UK,” they said.
“Safe accommodation is only one element of an effective protective security plan because risk follows the person, not the place.
“The issue has never been accommodation. The issue is whether appropriate and proportionate protective security is being provided throughout the entirety of the visit.”
The prospect of Harry’s return continues to generate speculation following years of strained relations within the Royal Family.
According to Daily Mail royal editor Rebecca English, Harry’s public comments about his relatives have left King Charles in an unenviable position.
“(Charles is) not a bad man. He’s not an uncaring man. He loves his son, but his son has put him in a very, very difficult position,” Rebecca English, royal editor at the Daily Mail, told the publication’s Palace Confidential podcast.
“He (Harry) has betrayed a lot of family intimacies. I don’t want to use the word ‘secrets’, but it’s certainly intimacies.
“There’s a very small circle of people (the Royal Family) can trust and once you’re in that circle of trust you remain in (it) and Harry has smashed that with a hammer,” Ms English added.
Relations deteriorated further after the publication of Harry’s memoir, Spare, in which he alleged Charles did not hug him following Princess Diana’s death, described Queen Camilla as a “villain”, “dangerous” and a “wicked stepmother”, claimed there was a rift between Meghan Markle and Princess Catherine, and alleged Prince William once knocked him to the floor during an argument.
The Prince and Princess of Wales are widely understood to remain estranged from the Sussexes and are not expected to play any role in the upcoming visit.
“This is all deeply personal, but William and Kate can’t understand why so much effort and priority is being taken for Harry and Meghan,” a well-placed source told Woman’s Day.
“Poor Kate’s had to endure so much… It’s hard for William to not kick off and give his father an ultimatum.”
According to the source, the only thing preventing the future King from making a bigger issue of the arrangements is “the certainty that Meghan and Harry will screw it up themselves”.
They added: “Charles can’t bear ‘drama’ and already the PR stunts have started even before they’ve arrived.”