Prince Harry and Meghan Markle paid a private visit to Queen Elizabeth during their trip to Europe
- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were reunited with Queen Elizabeth on Thursday.
- Insider confirmed that the couple saw the Queen at Windsor Castle ahead of the Invictus Games.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were reunited with Queen Elizabeth on Thursday.
A spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex confirmed to Insider that Harry and Markle paid a visit to the Queen while they are in Europe for the Invictus Games, a competition for injured service personnel founded by Prince Harry, which is set to start in The Hague, Netherlands, on Saturday.
The visit marks Markle's first in-person meeting with the Queen since the Duke and Duchess' interview with Oprah Winfrey. Prince Harry was last seen with the Queen publicly at Prince Philip's funeral in April 2021.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were seen walking towards Windsor Castle by locals on Thursday morning, the Daily Mail and Express reported.
Prince Harry did not come to the UK for a memorial service for Prince Philip on March 29, as Insider previously reported. A spokesperson for the couple said at the time that Harry hoped to visit his grandmother soon.
The Daily Mail went on to report that the couple arrived in Windsor on Wednesday night and stayed at Frogmore Cottage, where they lived in the early months of their marriage before moving to the US and Princess Eugenie and her family now reside. Harry and Markle then left the UK for the Netherlands on Thursday night, according to the Daily Mail.
The couple's children, Archie and Lilibet, were not with them during the visit to the Queen, according to the Daily Mail.
The couple's attorney has previously said they do not feel safe bringing their children to the UK, as they lost their access to taxpayer-funded police protection when they stepped back from the royal family in 2020. In September 2021, Harry sought a judicial review of the British government's decision that barred him from personally paying for police protection for him and his family while in the UK, according to a statement from his attorneys obtained by Insider.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's relationship with the royal family has been strained since they stepped back as senior members of the royal family in 2020, and that tension only increased in the aftermath of their 2021 interview with Winfrey.
In the interview, the couple alleged that Kate Middleton made Markle cry during the week of her wedding, Prince Charles stopped speaking to Harry after they stepped back from the family, and Markle was denied help when she was struggling with suicidal thoughts as a result of British tabloids' treatment of her.
The couple also alleged that a senior member of the royal family made racist comments about their son Archie's skin tone. They later said the comments did not come from the Queen or Prince Philip.
The Sun reported in December that Harry and Prince Charles are still "barely" speaking, though Charles wrote that he was "proud" of his youngest son in a personal essay in January.
Representatives for Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.