King Charles and Queen Camilla welcomed Prince Harry, Meghan and their children Archie and Lilibet to Highgrove House on Friday afternoon — the monarch’s first in‑person meeting with his youngest grandchildren since 2022. Buckingham Palace confirmed the gathering at the King’s private Gloucestershire home, describing it as a “private family occasion”. No pictures or further details will be released.
The reunion ends a four‑year gap since Charles last saw Archie, now seven, and Lilibet, five, during Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. It also marks the first time Harry and Meghan have been in the UK together since the late Queen’s funeral in 2022. The meeting caps a fraught week for Harry, who on Tuesday lost a £50 million privacy case against the publisher of the Daily Mail — a defeat his father had reportedly likened to “a suicide mission”. Days before his arrival, a row erupted over security and accommodation, with the Palace refusing Harry’s request to stay at Buckingham Palace.
“King Charles hosted Prince Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet at Highgrove for the first time since 2022.”
Harry had flown to Birmingham earlier on Friday to promote the 2027 Invictus Games, trying his hand at pickleball and wheelchair rugby. Meghan and the children — reportedly coming from a holiday in Portugal — did not join him at the event. Instead, they travelled straight to Highgrove. The King, 77 and undergoing cancer treatment, had “rarely seen his two grandchildren since they were born”, according to one source. Harry said last year he wanted to reconcile with his family, declaring “I do not know how much longer my father has.”
Yet the royal rift remains deep. While the family met at Highgrove, Harry’s brother, the Prince of Wales, was playing in a charity polo match in Windsor — and there are said to be “no plans” for the brothers to meet during this visit. The meeting with the King, however, signals a tentative step towards healing a public feud that has festered since the Sussexes quit royal duties in 2020. For now, the family has retreated into the privacy of Highgrove, leaving the question of what comes next hanging over the shattered relationship between the King’s sons.
