Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have welcomed their first royal visitor since moving to the US, amid a tumultuous time for the British royals.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been snapped together in Los Angeles on a double dinner date with Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank at a restaurant near their home in Santa Barbara at the weekend.
Meghan and Harry were pictured laughing and intently listening to Eugenie and Mr Brooksbank during animated conversations during their meal.
It is the first time the Sussexes have been photographed together with any other royals since they sensationally quit as senior members of the family in 2020.
Tweet from @SourceEugenie
Meghan was last pictured with another royal in March of that year alongside Harry, at their last official function at London’s Westminster Abbey.
Harry has made only two brief visits home to Britain since then – for his grandfather Prince Philip’s funeral in April last year and for an unveiling of a statue of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, with his brother Prince William in July 2021.
The duke is reportedly close to his cousin – she and her husband now live in Frogmore Cottage, the property renovated on the Queen’s Windsor Castle estate as an official home for Harry and Meghan before they left Britain.
The snaps of the dinner date came days after Harry and Eugenie were photographed at the Super Bowl together. It was not known then if the princess was in the US with her husband or their toddler son, August.
Prince Harry was also seen in the locker room of the Los Angeles Rams holding their NFL championship trophy after their Super Bowl victory.
Tweet from @NFLUK
During an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show last year, Meghan revealed Eugenie and her husband were among the first royals to learn she and Harry were dating.
Meghan also told Oprah Winfrey in last March’s bombshell tell-all interview that she knew Eugenie before she met Harry, and that the princess was also there when Meghan first met the Queen.
Eugenie and Mr Brooksbank’s surprise visit to the US came just days after the princess’ father, Prince Andrew, agreed to settle a long-running case in which he was accused of sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl.
Meanwhile, the Queen is still plagued by COVID symptoms after testing positive on Sunday.
Buckingham Palace announced on Tuesday the Queen would skip a planned virtual engagement as she still had cold-like symptoms. The palace had said earlier the monarch would continue light engagements, despite her illness.
