King Charles and Queen Camilla welcomed Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, to Highgrove on Friday—the first time the monarch had seen his grandchildren in person since the Platinum Jubilee in 2022. The surprise reunion, which also included Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, followed days of speculation over whether the meeting would take place after it was announced Meghan and the children would not join Harry in London.
Harry had been in the UK for a week of events promoting the Invictus Games, including a countdown at the NEC in Birmingham. Security concerns initially prevented Meghan and the children from travelling with him, but those concerns were mitigated to allow the visit to Highgrove. The Mirror exclusively reported that Charles instructed senior aides to secure time in his busy diary for the meeting.
“King Charles met Archie and Lilibet for first time since 2022 at Highgrove.”
The reunion took place on the same afternoon Prince William played in the DMMI Royal Charity Polo Cup 2026 at Guards Polo Club in Windsor, with the Princess of Wales making a surprise appearance to support him. The day’s sport raised £1,050,000, pushing the cup’s total to more than £15m.
Harry’s transatlantic dash from California to Britain in February 2024, following his father’s cancer diagnosis, may have initiated the first steps towards reconciliation. While the meeting is likely to be interpreted as a sign of thawing in the relationship between Charles and Harry, the rift with William shows no sign of abating. The children had last seen their grandfather during Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee weekend in 2022, and their reunion came amid ongoing estrangement between the brothers.
