Harry and Meghan to bring children to UK for first time in four years

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are set to bring their two children, Archie and Lilibet, to the United Kingdom for the first time in four years, marking a significant and closely watched development in the royal family’s most public rift.

A long-awaited return

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex left the UK in early 2020, relocating permanently to Montecito, California, after stepping back from senior royal duties. Since then, their children have had virtually no public presence on British soil. Archie, now five, and Lilibet, who turns four in June, were both born after the couple’s exit from frontline royal life was already underway.

It’s a visit that many royal watchers had begun to wonder might never happen, at least not while tensions between Harry and the Windsor family remained so visible. But something, it seems, has shifted.

What we know about the visit

Details remain sparse. No official itinerary has been confirmed, and Buckingham Palace declined to comment directly on the family’s travel plans. Still, sources close to the couple have indicated the visit is intended to be private, focused on family rather than public engagements.

That’s a notable choice. Harry’s previous UK trips — including his appearance at King Charles III’s coronation in May 2023 and a brief visit related to his High Court phone-hacking case — were solo. Meghan hasn’t set foot in Britain since the couple attended the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022.

A spokesperson for the couple said only that “the Duke and Duchess are looking forward to spending time with family.” No further details were provided.

The family backdrop

The visit comes amid King Charles’s ongoing cancer treatment and a wider, if fragile, thaw in relations between Harry and the institution he so publicly broke from. Harry has spoken in interviews about wanting his children to know their British heritage and their extended family. Whether that translates into any visible reconciliation remains to be seen.

Lilibet has never attended a formal royal event on UK soil. Archie last appeared publicly in Britain as an infant.

And that absence has not gone unnoticed. For four years, both children have grown up entirely outside the rhythms of British royal life — no Trooping the Colour balcony appearances, no Windsor family Christmases, nothing. Their UK identities, such as they are, exist almost entirely in the tabloid imagination.

What comes next

Royal commentators are already speculating about whether the trip could lead to direct meetings with King Charles and, potentially, Prince William and Princess Catherine. Given the state of those relationships, nothing can be assumed.

But families are complicated. And royal ones more so. Whatever happens behind closed doors during this visit, the fact that Harry and Meghan are bringing their children home — even briefly — suggests the door hasn’t been shut entirely.

When exactly the family will arrive hasn’t been confirmed publicly. The coming weeks will tell.