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.”

[From The Times]

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.