This is the adorable moment Prince Harry and Meghan Markle cuddle up to a newborn before the overwhelmed duke is visibly consoled by his wife as they take their seats for the commencement of the Invictus Games – the couple’s first public visit to Europe since Megxit threw the Royal Family into chaos.
A video shows the Duke and Duchess of Sussex standing with the young youngster, while another shows Meghan clutching her husband’s hand outside the American Embassy in The Hague, Holland, yesterday while the Queen’s grandson fought to keep his emotions in check.
Harry is passionate about the Invictus Games, which he founded in order to aid the rehabilitation of injured or sick military members and veterans from around the world by providing them with the opportunity to compete in athletic events comparable to the Paralympics.
After making their first public appearance as a pair at the Games in London in 2014, he and Meghan Markle chose to make their first public appearance as a couple at the Games in Toronto, Canada, in 2017. The Hague Games were scheduled to take place in 2020, but were postponed owing to the pandemic.
After a secret detour to Windsor to visit the Queen and Prince Charles, the duke and duchess made their first public appearance together in Europe since Megxit yesterday, breaking cover at the Invictus Games with a Netflix film crew in tow.
The Netflix movie team was photographed standing separate from the throng of photographers covering Prince Harry and Meghan’s entrance at The Hague’s Zuiderpark.
The couple has inked a multi-million pound contract with Netflix, and a documentary about the Games called Heart of Invictus will be the first documentary series co-produced by Netflix and the Duke and Duchess’s own production business, Archewell Productions.
Meghan Markle wore a clean white Valentino suit with wide-leg trousers and a double-breasted jacket for the occasion. The blazer is presently on sale for £2,600, plus £1,450 for the matching trousers. Meghan wore a clutch purse that is also rumoured to be by Valentino and retails for £2,200.
The pair strolled hand in hand into the event at the Zuiderpark in The Hague, and were seen putting their hands on each other’s backs as they welcomed guests on what was their first joint appearance in Europe since they acrimoniously departed as working royals in 2020.
Meghan’s favourite make-up artist, Daniel Martin, who created her natural look for her wedding in 2018, was believed to have landed in The Hague ahead of the Sussexes last night. He wrote ‘Are you ready?’ next to a video footage of a sign for the Games in an Instagram post.
The Mail reported yesterday that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry flew into the UK surreptitiously on Wednesday before going to visit the Queen.
The pair is believed to have flown into the UK on a commercial plane on Tuesday night with their private bodyguards, arriving on Wednesday afternoon and staying at Frogmore Cottage.
They were sighted by fellow first-class passengers on the trip, but news of their arrival on British soil did not start to spread until they were spotted by locals and visitors out walking in Windsor on Thursday.
Despite Harry’s ongoing legal action in the High Court, in which he claims he does not feel secure bringing his family to the UK, they were able to fly out later that day without being photographed.
The Sussexes are said to have met with the Queen at least once, as well as Harry’s estranged father, Prince Charles, who was in Windsor on Thursday morning to fill in for the old monarch at the annual Royal Mandy service.
Both the Queen and the Prince of Wales are understood to desire to keep lines of contact open and friendly with Harry and Meghan in the hopes of one day mending fences.
The pair did not meet with William and Kate since they were skiing with their children.
The Sussexes then flew to the Netherlands, where they were greeted with cheers and applause as they arrived at the Games’ reception.
The Ukrainian non-governmental organisation Come Back Alive, which is soliciting funds to help the Ukrainian army, gave Harry one of their calendars yesterday and tweeted a photo of him holding it with a serious expression.
The Sussexes are set to attend the opening ceremony of the Games today (Saturday), with the Duke staying in the Netherlands for the entire week-long tournament. Meghan Markle will attend the ‘first few days’ of the international competition, according to a spokeswoman for the Sussexes.
There has been significant discussion about the Sussexes’ security precautions in the Netherlands ahead of their arrival.
Harry returned for his grandfather’s burial in April of last year. He and his family were rumoured to desire to travel to the United Kingdom for the Thanksgiving service.
However, reports claim that if he had travelled from the United States, his legal situation would have been jeopardised.
Despite promising to foot the costs himself, Harry filed a High Court claim against the Home Office after being told he would no longer receive the same level of personal security when visiting the UK.
According to rumours, the pair has brought a private security team to the Netherlands and will be safeguarded by local officials after being certified VVIPs (Very Very Important People) by Dutch authorities.
A spokesman for the Netherlands’ Ministry of Justice and Security said: ‘We never comment or give any details concerning possible individual security measures. A general statement would be that we take appropriate measures that are in line with our security threat assessment.’
It comes after critics said the pair was ‘cashing in’ on the Olympics by bringing Netflix, with which they have a $100 million deal, into private meetings.
Some worry that they’re ‘exploiting the Queen,’ claiming that their trip to London this week for top-secret ‘clear the air talks’ with the monarch and Prince Charles was arranged to appease their American producers.
The Duke and Duchess have inked a multi-million pound contract with Netflix, and a documentary about the Games called Heart of Invictus will be the first documentary series co-produced by Netflix and the Duke and Duchess’s own company, Archewell Productions.
Last night, it was claimed that the couple’s top-secret encounter with the Queen would be featured in a documentary about Harry’s worldwide sporting event for injured or sick military members and veterans.
Meghan Markle wore a clean white Valentino suit with wide-leg trousers and a double-breasted jacket to a reception to welcome friends and family of the Games.
The blazer is presently on sale for £2,100, plus £1,100 for the matching trousers. Meghan wore a clutch purse that is also rumoured to be by Valentino and retails for £2,200.
Senior royal insiders told The Mirror that the meeting was ‘very friendly’ and ‘very warm and good natured.’ According to reports, Harry and Meghan invited opened the door to return from the United States for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, and told her about their plans to return so she could spend time with the children.
The Queen has yet to meet Lilibet, her 11-month-old great-granddaughter, who was named after Her Majesty’s childhood nickname.
Archie, the seventh in line to the British throne, is already two years old, and past stories have suggested that the Queen is disappointed that she won’t be able to spend more time with him.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are now on holiday in the French Alps with their children, which coincided with Harry and Meghan’s unexpected visit.
William and Kate are rumoured to be vacationing in the Courcheval ski resort, with a photo of them watching their eldest son Prince George take a skiing lesson circulating online.
The couple’s absence from the meeting between Harry and Meghan Markle and other senior royals, according to royal writer Robert Jobson, was “significant.”
Since Harry pulled the nuclear button on his royal life, the brothers’ relationship is said to be at an all-time low, and Harry and his wife have been chastised for skipping Prince Philip’s burial ceremony at Westminster Abbey last month.
Tom Bower, Meghan’s scathing biographer, told MailOnline that the Sussexes are “the Royal Family’s worst traducers,” accusing them of “exploiting an old, unwell woman to boost their credibility and coffers.”
For their documentary about the paralympic-style games, Netflix is set to deploy a camera crew to follow Harry and Meghan as they meet the Ukraine team at the Invictus Games for injured war veterans in The Netherlands.
Critics, on the other hand, have accused the royal couple of ‘cashing in’ on the Games by bringing Netflix, with which they have a $100 million deal, into private meetings.
And royal insiders feel that the couple’s VVIP status will allow Netflix to depict them in a positive light as they deal with the consequences from their explosive appearance with Oprah last year.
Mr Bower said of Harry and Meghan’s meeting with the Queen and Charles: ‘I have no doubt it was all done for their Netflix documentary. The Queen’s advisers failed to protect her from being exploited by the Royal Family’s worst traducers, while the Sussexes exploited an old, unwell woman to boost their credibility and coffers.’
Mr Jobson told the Mirror: ‘Hopefully, in time the royal brothers too can break bread and end this new war of the Wales’s, which is in danger of turning into one of the fictional soap style dramas Meghan Markle used to star in. For William to do that, however, Harry will have to show that he (and his team of PR image gurus and advisers) can keep their counsel at this early and delicate stage. If not, this promising development would all have been for nothing.’
Other observers speculated that the Queen’s surprise face-to-face visit with the Sussexes, who will turn 96 next Thursday and has recently suffered from a series of health issues, was a “olive branch” after the royal family and the Sussexes had been at odds.
Despite the couple’s widely publicised criticism of the royals, Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine, believes the visit would have made the Queen extremely happy. They accused an unnamed senior royal of racism in their interview with Oprah.
In last year’s tell-all Oprah interview in California, Harry harshly criticised Charles for failing to support him and purportedly financially cutting the duke off.
Supporters of Charles have contested the charges, claiming that his younger son’s rejection has left him despondent. He’s also believed to be worried about Harry’s memoirs, which are slated to be released later this year and which he worries will be used to settle old scores.
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