Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were sensationally welcomed back into the royal fold after the Queen declared all of her family should come together for her Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
In their first UK public appearance together since they quit their royal roles two years ago to set up home in the United States, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex kept an uncharacteristic low profile for the Trooping the Colour parade.
Harry, who has in recent times suffered a bitter fallout with his father Prince Charles and brother Prince William after claiming they were “trapped” by their positions as future kings, refused to emerge onto a balcony to watch the Queen’s birthday parade.
The Duke and Duchess, who have earned a reported £100million since quitting The Firm in favour of seeking their “financial independence”, promised Her Majesty before they jetted in from California on Wednesday that they would “do nothing to overshadow” her historic celebration.
Sources close to the couple have revealed they were “perhaps understandably nervous” ahead of their trip where they today for the first time came face to face with the Duchess of Cambridge after slating the royal family last year in an interview with US chat show queen Oprah Winfrey.
In the bombshell two hour chat, watched by more than 80million people around the world, Harry and Meghan accused a senior royal of racism who they refused to name, after they allegedly questioned how dark their unborn children would be.
Former actress Meghan, 40, sent further shockwaves through the monarchy after revealing she felt suicidal after feeling abandoned by the family when she was pregnant with her first child, Archie, now three.
Courtiers had privately questioned what kind of atmosphere would emerge when Meghan and the Duchess of Cambridge also came face to face for the first time since their departure from royal life.
In the explosive Oprah interview, Meghan railed against the Palace for refusing to correct a story that she had made Kate, 40, cry at a dress fitting before her wedding to Prince Harry.
Palace aides reacted with horror when Meghan claimed to a global TV audience that the opposite had occurred and Kate actually made her cry, without giving further evidence or context to the event.
But in remarkable scenes that royal sources tonight admitted they thought would be “unlikely” to ever happen given the dramatic fallout from their exit from royal life, Meghan and Harry were pictured smiling and joking after watching the majestic Trooping ceremony from the Major General’s Office overlooking Horse Guards Parade.
Meghan was pictured looking stunning while giving a playful shush to Mia and Lena Tindall, the young daughters of Zara and Mike Tindall, as she beamed in a wide-brimmed cream hat with navy ribbon.
Showing no sign of nerves she was also spotted sharing a joke with Savannah Phillips, the daughter of Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips and his ex-wife Autumn Kelly.
The couple were also pictured chatting to the Duke of Kent, the Queen’s cousin, 86, who stood alongside Her Majesty on the Buckingham Palace balcony to watch the final part of the Trooping parade to salute the soldiers.
A royal source said: “It’s fair to say that things between the Duke and Duchess and the rest of the family have been strained to say the least in recent times.
“But so far they have kept to themselves and their promise that they wouldn’t overshadow the celebrations.”
The Sussexes will be hoping their short trip with children Archie and Lilibet, who turns one on Saturday, will go without incident and appear to be keeping out of the limelight with no private engagements planned.
Prince Harry, 37, sought guarantees from the family that his family would be afforded taxpayer funded police protection while in the UK after his security detail was taken away after he quit royal life.
He has been engaged in a bitter legal row with the Home Office after deciding to sue the British government over the decision to remove his protected status, leading him to claim in court that he was “unable to return home” because it is too dangerous.
Harry was told he would be guarded by speciality Met Police officers as he is attending the jubilee celebrations with other working members of the royal family, but would not be able to undertake private events with taxpayer funded protection officers.
The Queen also appeared to extend an olive branch to the couple after sending her private car to meet her Grandson and his family when their Embraer private jet landed at Farnborough airport.
A palace source said: “As the Queen has previously said, the Duke and Duchess remain much loved members of the family.”
