The photos of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s events in Nottingham came out all day on Thursday. This was Prince Harry and Meghan’s first “joint appearance” in the UK since their return in August. It’s also the first time they’ve done anything in public together in the UK since 2022. Well, Team Sussex gave another briefing to their favorite British outlet, the Telegraph, ahead of these Nottingham events. Basically, we should enjoy Meghan while she’s outside, because she’s going to be inside for the most part. I believe that, and good for her.

The Duchess of Sussex is expected to make a high-profile return to public duties alongside Prince Harry this week. But sources close to them insisted that their visit to Nottingham on Thursday would not act as any kind of curtain-raiser for their new lives in Britain. Instead, the Duchess would largely shun such appearances in favour of motherhood, her lifestyle business and efforts to reboot her acting career, The Telegraph can reveal.

Their visit to Nottingham is set to be their first joint public engagement since returning to the UK after a four-year hiatus. While requests for more visits have continued to arrive, it is understood the Duchess was not looking to take on any causes and royal-style public engagements were no longer a primary focus.

“They have different professional priorities,” one source said of the Duke and Duchess. “Prince Harry’s is his philanthropic work and public service. Her focus is on her family and children, followed by her business, followed by rebooting her acting career. Her public appearances will be relatively rare. She is reading a lot of scripts at the moment. If she has time left after all of that, she will do some charity work. But she’s not a working royal, her day isn’t organised around a programme pulled together by a private secretary. She’s a full-time mum and entrepreneur, and that alone takes up a lot of time and work.”

The Duchess is hoping to launch As Ever, her lifestyle brand, in the UK by the end of this year. Known for jam and edible sprinkles, its products have only been available in the US but expansion plans are under way.

The significance of the location of their first public engagement since coming back to Britain is not lost on Team Sussex, nor the couple. Their three planned engagements in Nottingham have been widely compared with their first official outing in the same city in December 2017, when hundreds of flag-waving fans chanted her name. Team Sussex said there was a “really nice synergy” in their return visit. But while the “stars aligned” on this occasion, they reiterated that such appearances would not become the norm.

“These joint charitable engagements will not be a regular part of their work,” the source said. “Don’t expect to see them doing this kind of thing together very often. A handful of times a year perhaps.”

[From The Telegraph]

“Don’t expect to see them doing this kind of thing together very often.” Good. I feel like the less Meghan is seen doing these sorts of events, the better. She’s truly moved on, she’s got her own hybrid entrepreneur/elite jam-maker/celebrity-actress thing going on. She doesn’t need to tag along with Harry for whatever he thinks he’s doing “on British soil.” And honestly, that’s even scarier for the Windsors and the British press, the idea that Meghan can’t be controlled or managed, that she’s not begging to be accepted as some royal variant, that none of them have any input on where she goes or who she speaks to. It also says, to me, that Meghan knows she’s just back in the UK for a good time, not a long time.

Speaking of, Meghan was seen out in London again on Wednesday, wearing jeans and high heels and looking chic.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex out and about in London with hairstylist George Northwood. A lovely reunion!

She looks absolutely stunning 🤩

#MeghanSussex https://t.co/pn7zC8HcDY

— ChrisBaronSmith (@ChrisBaronSmit1) October 14, 2026

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.