The Sunday Times’ Roya Nikkhah had a big exclusive about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex this weekend. Given the lack of nasty asides about Prince Harry and Meghan, I’m assuming that Roya has been added to Team Sussex’s royal-reporter WhatsApp and that Roya got most of this information straight from Harry and Meghan’s people. There are several legitimate pieces of news in here, including plans for a joint outing for Harry and Meghan on Thursday, as well as the Sussexes’ plans for their kids’ half-term break, plus the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Some highlights:
The first joint-outing since the Sussex Return: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are due to undertake their first joint engagements since returning to Britain, signalling their determination to be viewed as public figures. On Thursday Harry and Meghan will visit Nottingham, which is where they made their first joint public appearance after announcing their engagement in 2017. They will see projects at three charities that support young people and local communities through music, film, sport and tackling food poverty. A friend of the Sussexes said: “Nottingham is a really special place for them and they are looking forward to getting back out there into the community, together.”
What’s on their Thursday agenda: On Thursday, the couple will spend time at the Community Recording Studio, an initiative supporting young people affected by violence, where they will watch music and acting workshops. Meghan, who starred in the television drama Suits before marrying Harry, is expected to take part in an acting workshop. The Sussexes will visit the Himmah food bank, where they will be joined by members of the Hubb Community Kitchen, a group of women who began cooking at the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre, west London, to support those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. The couple will also visit Epic Partners, which supports young people through sports programmes and mentoring.
The Sussexes are happy & settled: Friends of the couple say they are “happy and settled” with their children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, in their new home in the Cotswolds, where they are understood to be renting a house on a friend’s estate while they consider their long-term plans.
Holiday plans: They will spend Christmas with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, 70, who lives in California, not with the King at the traditional royal family gathering at Sandringham, Norfolk. A friend said: “For Thanksgiving and Christmas, they will do whatever Doria wants to do. They would love her to come over to the UK and spend it with them here, but they will be wherever she wants to be. They won’t be having Christmas with the royal family. How could that even work? They know it would be too awkward and too difficult. They also know they’re not going to be invited, and they’re not waiting for an invitation.” The acknowledgement is a marked shift from the Sussexes’ former frustration at being excluded from royal family gatherings.
Focus on work: Meghan is understood to be working full-time on her As Ever lifestyle business, and is also planning to resume collaborating with some of her charities and patronages from her time as a working royal. Harry’s focus remains on the next Invictus Games, which will be held in Birmingham in July, and his UK-based charities. Harry has also recently contributed to a planned documentary on race relations in the UK, in collaboration with Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, the mother of Stephen Lawrence, who was killed in a racially motivated knife attack in 1993.
A return to acting: Sources close to Meghan have also confirmed she will “definitely” resume acting, after recent speculation that she was in talks to appear in the next series of Guy Ritchie’s Netflix drama The Gentlemen. A friend said she “has been sent lots of scripts, which she’s looking at”.
The kids’ half-term break: Contrary to reports, the Sussexes are not expected to return to the US for the children’s half-term holiday later this month. Friends say they will probably remain in the UK or travel to their holiday home in Portugal.
Harry is still waiting to see his father: It was the first time Archie and Lilibet had seen their grandfather since June 2022. Harry is understood to be in phone contact with his father. A friend said: “He has not yet seen the King, who is still in Scotland, but it will happen.”
I’m glad that Meghan is reuniting with some folks from the Hubb Community Kitchen! That’s really cool. I’m less pleased that Harry and Meghan are doing a royal-style day of engagements without police/royal protection, and I’m very worried that their events will descend into chaos. Especially since they’re giving people notice of the events and itinerary – the British media will likely turn these events into a circus, and god knows what the Windsors will organize to disrupt Harry and Meghan. As for the holiday stuff… I hope they go to Portugal for the kids’ half-term, and I also hope they’re back in California for the holidays. This all has the feel of Harry endlessly trying to “prove” that there was always a half-in solution, right?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.
-
- ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN NETHERLANDS ** Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA – On Tuesday 23 September, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan visited the Auwal Masjid, South Africa’s oldest mosque. The Auwal Masjid was established in 1794 in what was previously known as the Cape Malay district. Pictured: Meghan Markle, Prince Harry BACKGRID USA 24 SEPTEMBER 2019 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Nottingham, UK, 09 September 2025: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, visits the Community Recording Studio (CRS) in Nottingham.,Image: 1035538464, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Paul Grover/Avalon
-
- Nottingham, UK, 09 September 2025: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, greets the crowds as he visits the Community Recording Studio (CRS) in Nottingham.,Image: 1035540770, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Paul Grover/Avalon
-
- ** RIGHTS: ONLY UNITED STATES, BRAZIL, CANADA ** London, UNITED KINGDOM – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Women’s Empowerment reception during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at the Royal Aeronautical Society. Pictured: Meghan Markle, Prince Harry BACKGRID USA 19 APRIL 2018 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN NETHERLANDS ** Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA – Prince Harry Duke of Sussex and Meghan Duchess of Sussex meet Coastguard trained by Royal Marines at Kalk Bay, Cape Town. Pictured: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 24 SEPTEMBER 2019 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN NETHERLANDS ** Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA – Meghan Markle The Duchess of Sussex is seen during a visit to the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, part of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), of which she was announced as Patron in January 2019. Pictured: Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 1 OCTOBER 2019 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- ** RIGHTS: ONLY UNITED STATES, BRAZIL, CANADA ** Windsor, UNITED KINGDOM – BGUK_1763809 – Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire, UK. Pictured: Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex,, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex BACKGRID USA 25 OCTOBER 2019 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Dusseldorf, GERMANY – The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, were spotted uplifting spirits during the fourth day of the Invictus Games 2023. Held at the Merkur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany, the couple looked genuinely happy as they interacted with athletes and fans alike. Pictured: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 13 SEPTEMBER 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex departs a visit to The Community Recording Studio in Nottingham, United Kingdom Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: Nottingham, United Kingdom When: 09 Sep 2025 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
I really don’t understand all of this why are they doing this without security, in a country 2 months ago wasn’t safe. Also good for visiting her charity but why couldn’t this be done without the media knowledge. Good luck to them.
The great advantage for the charities to have someone famous involved is the publicity, it leads to more money for the charity.
Haven’t we all agreed that the “listening and learning” type visits don’t make much of a difference? However, Meghan’s MO is usually much more action oriented, so I expect that they will come up with something tangible for the organizations they are visiting. I can’t imagine them rolling up to a food bank empty handed. Let’s wait and see what happens.
In reality, nobody can actually be sure what arrangements are in place. Because if RAVEC has already considered completed RMB assessments and made a decision neither side would tell anyone. RAVEC is not allowed to go public. Think about it.
That’s not true about RAVEC not going public. And a security specialist a few days ago criticized RAVEC for their posture currently which is him not being a working Royal somehow means threats against him have gone away. Right now it is still just Harry and Meghan’s private security.
RAVEC is legally bound by strict rules of confidentiality for very obvious reasons. There’s a long list of people in – or who have been in – the public eye who get protective security.
Many folks who have some knowledge of the process are publicly opining at the moment, but it’s a fact that if a decision had been made recently there would have been no announcement from RAVEC.
It is perfectly possible that close protection officers, etc, are already working alongside the Sussexes’ security team.
@ E.A , you and me both . You and me both . And Kaiser too .
Beth, the reason so many people are asking and worrying about whether they have been granted the well-needed security is because RAVEC had been leaking like a sieve about their security status since before the family returned and essentially giving selected media sources and/via their palace contacts blow by blow accounts of their supposedly confidential processes re the Sussexes and how far they had come and making it clear that they were slow-walking everything (further endangering the Sussexes’ lives). There had been NO need, for example, for them to brief the media that The Duchess of Sussex was finally going to be given a risk assessment (with the appalling implication that she had never had one before despite the high threat level against her when she married Harry). They didn’t seem to be so fussed about their “strict rules of confidentiality” all these years and especially in these last few months when the leaks became too obvious to ignore. There are hundreds, possibly even thousands of public and non-public figures – none of whom are relate to the royal family – who receive round the clock armed protection courtesy of British taxpayers, yet RAVEC was only leaking nonstop about the Sussexes, as though the rules of confidentiality did not apply to them.
I get the feeling that either Harry got his lawyers involved in order to plug the leaks, or got the Home Secretary to do so, because it was a very bad look from an international perspective, and I can’t imagine that the people on RAVEC’s protection list were happy feeling that details of their protection could end up in the media at any time.
Given the speculation online that “police vehicles” were present when Meghan had tea with Malala, it is possible that some acceptable form of security has, at long last, been provided, and if the source(s) of the leak has/have not been plugged then RAVEC is quiet because it doesn’t want the media to know that it has got egg on its face, as it were.
I hadn’t even realised that Malala was still receiving police protection after all these years, so it’s possible that the police were there for her. However, the two ladies went to separate vehicles and Meghan appeared to leave in a convoy, so clearly she is being protected, which ought to provide fans with some peace of mind.
not sure why they are telling people almost a week in advance. have some media there or take their own photos and release them? agree that it could cause chaos.
i’m still surprised she wants to go back to acting. maybe that part isn’t true?
🥰 to see they’re doing what they’ve ALWAYS done…live their lives & pay for their security
I always thought a return to acting would be the most financially beneficial for the Sussexes.
They have loads of money, no way acting would put a dent in their net worth.
Also concerned re the public outing they both will be making. I do not get it, but wish them both well.
I assume they know more than anyone else does. Why are two adults who are both individually and together extremely intelligent and successful treated like children by so many people? So odd.
It boggles the mind, @Chiron. But then, when you consider that this is all about the lucrative business of speculative gossip, rumour-mongering — and of course, the 2-birds-with-one-stone agenda: malicious gossip (where gossiping about H&M is concerned) then it all begins to make a twisted kind of sense.
True that Harry and Meghan have more info than the general public but the move has people extremely confused. How is it that they were so concerned about security for years (even cancelling Meghan’s events a couple of months ago) to it not mattering now has really thrown people. Nobody gets it.
Er……..”nobody gets it” because nobody has been told it. Hello!
Certainly not the presstitutes who are obviously the ones who set britain’s agenda; and definitely not randos on the internet
As I said yesterday, I was hoping that Meghan would not do events in the UK but hopefully this will be few and far between. I’m not surprised that they won’t be going back to the US for half-term. The time-frame is too short for the children to travel to US and to get over the jetlag. What’s not said is that Harry and Meghan’s visit to Nottingham clashes with Charles and Camilla’s visit to Cardiff to attend the opening of the Welsh Assembly. So perhaps Harry is not coordinating with the Palace as we’ve been led to believe.
Harry is an private citizen so he can do as he likes, what he does is none of Charles and Camilla’s business. I wonder if Charles remembers what he said a few weeks ago. No reason to expect co-operation from a private citizen.
Exactly.
The trauma fantasies are gonna give you all a stroke lmao. And then you’re gonna act shocked on Thursday when everything goes swimmingly, they are well-received, and the whole world ignores whatever “distractions” the leftovers plan… just like in Australia this year after all of the fear mongering about how they weren’t going to be welcomed.
You also have no idea if RAVEC has given them security as they will likely not announce it, you’ll just see them with police (like Meghan last week in a police convoy. People originally thought it was Malala but the photographer, M-J Pictures, is in his TikTok comments being adamant that it was MEGHAN in the convoy). Obviously we don’t know for sure until we see them again, but just relax, Meghan is not an idiot. And she is a mother with young children who is not gonna play with her life.
And lastly, no, this does not seem like Harry’s trying to prove “half in half out” – it seems like exactly the kind of joint work they’ve been doing for years via Archewell on their international tours and domestically in the U.S., like the Welcome Project, or their domestic charity trips to places like Texas & NYC. They’ve just moved the operation to the UK for the foreseeable future.
Finally, some sense here. The “doom-and-gloom” tone of some of the comments in Harry and Meghan posts is both nauseating and worrisome. For some of you I get the impression that you almost WANT something to happen.
Thank you! Came here to say just that about Harry.
Of course they have to announce plans for visiting charities in advance, they want to put a spotlight on them and generate donations. They need the press for that. I am sure all security needed will be in place.
Thank you! 🎯
Co-sign this.
All of this
Thank you.
@Kinnley … ‘High Five’ and yea verily yea! 🙂
Thank you!
These are charities near and dear to their hearts so I am not surprised. There is no walkabout, so exposure to the public should be limited. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they do have security on the low or if Nottingham police aren’t providing security for the day.
My only question is if Archewell productions is done, or if their development slate is still on the agenda.
Sounds like H&M have things to do and they’re going to do them.
H&M are not without security. They have security, but not government security. The difference is their security in the UK do not carry firearms. But then again, no one else does either. However I am certain that Team Sussex is equipped with any number of other defenses other than firearms and anyone who targets that family will be in for a very rough treatment.
Tom Sykes who says he doesn’t believe in conspiracy theories has invented one for Thursday. He says they are trying to provoke a security incident to emphasize their need for security. I certainly hope they have the necessary security and that it just hasn’t been announced. Even with security, it’s kind of baffling that they announced this visit in advance. 🤔
And, yes, it does have all the trappings of a royal “engagement”. Harry is never beating the allegations that he wants to be half-in/half-out. Not as far as I’m concerned anyway.
Come off it, Psycho Sykes, lol! This man spews any vitriolic nonsense that pops into his head, LOVES conspiracy theories and is notorious for believing any old rubbish from bad-actor journalists and online trolls.
Agree about Tom Sucks. He has people like Crazy Paula from NewsNation and Rob Shueter as his guests and we know neither of them is credible. Tom is just trying to make bank however he can, truth be damned.
Psykes doesn’t need alcohol anymore to sound like a complete drunken idiot.
@BrassyRebel
“…….it does have all the trappings of a royal “engagement”. Harry is never beating the allegations that he wants to be half-in/half-out. Not as far as I’m concerned anyway.”
Never mind………..not many folks have the bandwidth to understand the following: to be ‘half-in’ means that one is under the control of the institution and, with the institution’s “permission,” such an individual is “allowed” to pursue commercial opportunities, i:e ‘half-out.’
The “allegation” that H&M are dying to be half-in/half-out or are actually engaged in a half-in/half-out arrangement with the institution, is only believed by those who are probably grappling with their own struggles with self-respect and self-esteem and/or are still in the throes of a toxic, controlling relationship and cannot conceive of concepts such as freedom and self-actualization as applied to themselves onnacounta they consider themselves to be unworthy. Or undeserving. Or not good enough. Or a lessor human than the windsors.
Get a grip & lighten up, @Kingston, you’re talking to blank faces on a gossip site, where we are all allowed to express our opinions about the subject matter without having our mental health called into question. It’s an escape from the Daily Drag, in case you didn’t get the memo.
Tom Sykes is an idiot. No one is going to put themselves in harms way to intentionally provoke a security incident. Harry and Meaghan have two young children to think about. I doubt that they would take a bullet to prove a point, especially considering how young Harry was when his mother died. They wouldn’t intentionally hurt their children like that.
They don’t have their review by RAVEC completed yet, I say that because if it was completed all of the usual suspects would be yelpipng about it.
And just have to hope that maybe the local police are happy to coordinate with their security so that they can be about safely. That’s all you can hope at this point until this whole review for both Harry and Meghan is completed. I still agree with Kaiser though, it’s pretty crappy that their movements got put out there almost a week in advance.
I’m sure the local police is coordinating with their security team and that’s why Meghan is going and why it was announced in advance. It’s going to be treated like a royal engagement and they’ll be criticized for that, but its not their fault – the press is obsessed with them and will give them the front pages if they do just about anything in public. Eugenie would visit charities frequently in England on her own and the press didn’t insist she was trying to be half in. It was just that no one really cared.
Yeah, even if they say at him, they’d get nonstop articles written about them so they might as well do as they like. Which is to support charities dear to them.
I look forward to the crowds being large and friendly and the Uk media covering this on their front pages.
I’m all for Harry and Meghan living their life and working exactly as they please. They quite literally are hurting no one and are helping many others. That being said I’m sure the usual suspects will act like Harry and Meghan doing charity is the end of the world and more importantly the monarchy.
They’re specifically calling this an “engagement” which seems pretty royal-coded. I’m sure William is out of his mind about this one.
They don’t have royal security. Doesn’t say they don’t have ANY security. Come on now.
There was footage of security with Meghan when she met with Malala.
Because Malala has Ravec security.
I’m excited for Meghan to see women from the Hubb Community Kitchen! I bet she’s excited, too.
And OMG, can anyone spare a thought for poor William and Kate? This means they’re going to need to work this week, too.
Roya nikka is a rabid piece of crap who had written terrible things about Harry and Meghan but mostly Meghan . Why they are talking to these Rota rats, It seems to me that lots of things they declare they won’t do , they have gone back on. I seriously don’t understand any of this .
It seems that, in the UK, all the press are Rota Rats. If they want to announce anything, they’ll have to deal with one of them sooner or later. Apart from the editorializing, “signalling their determination to be viewed as public figures,” the rest of the article is very straightforward.
Yes, it seems that Roya may be a case of ‘best of the worst’ rather than someone picked due to any outstanding qualities of her own. I think some of the Rota saw the praise and exposure Alison got for her interview with Harry and they want in on that too. Chris Ship is another one who wants to wriggle his way into the inner circle.
Yeah, also the reference to them yearning to be included in family events. As if…
She also claimed that the Sussexes had previously been frustrated at not being included in royal events such as Christmas at Sandringham, which is definitely not true. So she can’t help herself.
I don’t think they’re talking to this crappy Roya woman *at all*. I do think that the rota stenographers have seen how Chris Ship was informed about Harry’s Ukraine trip and have been trying to get a foot in the door of the Sussexes’ communications in order to be able to get advance news of their activities (and sh*t all over them while pretending to be “neutral”).
*Someone* (probably from AP) got the information and it was either leaked, or Nikkah “took charge of the information” from another non-rota Times reporter on the grounds that it was royal-related and thus her turf. The Sussexes’ communications people do seem to have been making an effort to work with reporters from the broadsheets who are NOT traditional working reporters. I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that royal rota members at the Times and Telegraph have been strong-arming their editors into insisting that ALL reporting opportunities on the Sussexes be passed to them, instead of to actual journalists at their papers, because private citizens Harry and Meghan are seen as “royal” when it comes to putting bread into the mouths of these starving stenographers who can’t make a living reporting on the taxpayer funded royals.
Just look at the snide KP/BP spin that she wedged into this supposedly “straightforward” article. WHEN have Harry and Meghan *ever* expressed “frustration at being excluded from royal family gatherings”? This is Roya’s and the leftover’s wishcasting. They WANT Harry and Meghan to WANT to attend royal events and are pissed that the Sussexes are living their lives without caring what William and Kate and Charles and Camilla think. I don’t know why people decided to believe the tabloid tripe that Harry is “sharing his diary/schedule” with BP. Or that Meghan would be dimming her light while in the UK. Even now, when it’s clear that they are doing exactly what they were doing when they lived in California, people – even fans(!) – still insist on swallowing the rubbish narratives of the UK media and allowing those to dictate their reactions to what the Sussexes do. It’s mindboggling.
No “friend of the Sussexes” is talking to Roya Nikkah. Same way the Victoria woman (from the Telegraph?) likes to pretend that she’s got Sussex sources. The tone of this article alone is enough to dispel that theory.
Argh! I meant “not traditional ROYAL reporters”. 😀
Stay safe. Godspeed.
I wish a successful and safe visit for the Sussexes. No need for them both to hide out like they are in Witness Protection for the entire time they are in the UK. Harry has been quiet recently about security so it looks like something has been worked out at least for more visible visits, so lets be happy about that!
The Sussexes are much better people than most. I would have told Himmah to f**k off after the Marmite Meghan comments, for which I don’t believe they have ever apologized.
And queue in the 2 stooges–WanK with one of their pop up garbage outings on Thursday to compete. They can’t resist. smdh.
Has Harry found a work-around RAVEC? I was just thinking, Charles declared Harry and Meghan private citizens. Does that mean that they could deal with the Home Office (is that who deals with security) independently. Harry wanted to pay for police security to have access to intelligence. Perhaps, because Harry and Meghan are private citizens, they could request UK police protection on a case by case basis, like when they are doing a public event. I don’t think Meghan would go out without police protection. Does this make sense, or am I just daft?
Did Harry not donate over a million dollars to one of his Nottingham charities last year? If I recall, Nottingham young people was very much a focus of Harry’s royal work. And how nice for them, upon their return, to work where they had their first work together as an engaged couple.
This is exactly the organisation Harry visited last year and made the private donation. The Sussexes always stayed in contact with them.
I doubt Harry could deal privately with the Home Office about his security. The whole “private citizens” crap from Charles was a warning to everyone not to treat the Sussexes as royals and address them as “Royal Highness”. Didn’t change their status at all, just showed the Palace pettiness. Very likely the police in Nottingham will help Harry’s private team to keep the Sussexes safe. There won’t be a walk, just out of the car into the building with friendly people inside glad to see them. Should be safe enough.
“signalling their determination to be viewed as public figures”??? As René Artois would say “You stupid woman” – they ARE public figures. International ones at that. They never stopped being public figures. Indeed, they were both public figures before they met and married each other. Idiot.