What Meghan Markle's UK return could really look like

Meghan Markle is reportedly set to skip Prince Harry’s upcoming trip to the UK this fall, with royal watchers now speculating on when the Duchess of Sussex might next make the journey across the Atlantic.

Prince Harry, 40, is expected to return to the UK in September for the WellChild Awards, and possibly to reconnect with King Charles following recent signs of a tentative thaw in their fraught relationship.

But royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams has told the Express that Meghan, 43, is "most emphatically not expected" to accompany her husband this time, instead opting to stay in California with the couple’s two children, Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, four.

Her absence won’t come as a surprise to many royal insiders, given the tensions that have simmered since Harry and Meghan’s dramatic exit from royal life in 2020.

However, Fitzwilliams predicts that Meghan’s next UK appearance is already pencilled in, for the Invictus Games in Birmingham in July 2027. 

“She will, of course, be expected to attend in Birmingham,” he noted. “Not to do so would be a public humiliation.”

The speculation follows last week’s eyebrow-raising reports that aides for both King Charles and the Sussexes met for an “informal drink” in London, a rare opening of communication that some viewed as a first step toward reconciliation.

While details of that meeting quickly made headlines, sparking rumours that the Sussexes themselves may have leaked the story, sources close to the couple have strongly denied the claim.

One insider told the Mail on Sunday: "There's a long road ahead, but a channel of communication is now open for the first time in years. There was no formal agenda, just casual drinks."

Although Harry has made multiple trips back to Britain since 2020, Meghan hasn’t set foot in the UK since Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September 2022.

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