Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walked into Nottingham on Thursday looking every inch the working royals they are no longer allowed to be. Six weeks after King Charles’s household declared the couple “akin to private citizens,” the Sussexes staged their first joint engagement since trading Montecito, California, for the Cotswolds, greeting schoolchildren, shaking hands along a rope line, and posing for photographs outside the Community Recording Studio in St Ann’s. “It’s great to be back,” Meghan told one well-wisher, People reported.
The choice of city was not subtle. Nottingham hosted the couple’s very first official appearance in December 2017, days after their engagement was announced, and Thursday’s itinerary retraced it almost stop for stop: the recording studio Harry has backed since 2013, the Himmah food bank where Meghan reconnected with women from the Hubb Community Kitchen behind her Together cookbook, and Epic Partners, the youth charity that closed the day. Harry quizzed children about their favorite subjects while Meghan joined a bracelet-making workshop for girls.
The visit was announced on Monday and billed by the couple’s representatives as an “engagement,” a word that lit the fuse. The Lord Chamberlain’s letter in September told government and military officials that the Sussexes hold no official status and that their HRH styles are not to be used. As of Thursday, Buckingham Palace had not commented on the Nottingham trip.
Meghan warmed up for the day with a two-hour lunch on Wednesday at The Park on Queensway, a short walk from Kensington Palace and the Nottingham Cottage the couple once called home, Hello! reported. Her companion was George Northwood, the hairstylist who created her wedding-reception bun and traveled with her on royal tours. The photographs circulated within hours.
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Royal commentators were waiting with knives out. “It’s royal theatre without royal authority,” Kinsey Schofield told Fox News Digital, claiming her sources describe “frustration” inside the palace. “King Charles faces a severe problem because Harry and Meghan appear determined to ignore the late queen’s instructions,” she added, warning the King “may eventually have to remind them why the front door was closed.”
Author Christopher Andersen agreed that “anything that looks like an official royal engagement will definitely be interpreted as defying the monarch’s wishes,” while broadcaster Helena Chard called the day “a pseudo royal reboot.” Royal journalist Robert Jobson went further on X, asking, “Surely the Palace should act?” before conceding on his Substack that the palace is “pretty powerless to stop two people with enough money and enough fame doing exactly what they want to do.”
On X, the thread split cleanly down the middle. Critics seized on the wording. “Why are private citizens on a walk about?” one user asked, and another echoed, “An engagement? They aren’t working royals so what’s that all about.” A third demanded consequences: “This is half in and out. They need their titles removed.” Even a skeptic conceded a grudging point: “Omg they never give up I will give them that!” Supporters answered with the scenes from the rope line. “What in the name of private citizens is this type of welcome? I love them,” one wrote, while another observed, “You can see how comfortable they are around people as well, nice to see.” One fan summed up the mood: “They’re back!! So happy to see them and see al the love the people are showing them!!”
The crowds in Nottingham cheered anyway. Whether the palace sees a charity visit or a shadow royal tour, the Sussexes have now shown exactly what “private citizens” looks like in practice, and it looks a lot like the job they quit.
