Harry and Meghan visit King Charles at Highgrove

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, brought their children to see King Charles and Queen Camilla on Friday in a private family meeting that marked the King’s first in-person visit with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet in more than four years.

Buckingham Palace said the King and Queen hosted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their children at Highgrove House, the King’s private home in Gloucestershire, on Friday afternoon. The palace described the meeting as a “private family occasion” and said no details or photographs would be released.

The visit came after days of uncertainty over whether Meghan and the children would travel to Britain with Harry, whose trip was tied in part to events for the Invictus Games, the sporting competition for injured service members and veterans that he founded. The BBC reported that Harry had been reconsidering bringing his family to the United Kingdom for a planned July trip after British authorities rejected his request for taxpayer-funded police protection.

Representatives for the Sussexes told CBS News that Harry “continues to explore every available option to enable the visit to proceed safely and to give his children the opportunity to enjoy the UK.”

Harry and Meghan stepped back from royal duties in 2020 and moved to California. Since then, their security arrangements in the U.K. have been downgraded and are assessed case by case by the government’s Royal and VIP Executive Committee.

The BBC reported that sources said Harry and his father wanted to meet this week and that the King was keen to make time to see Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5. Harry and Meghan had not been in the U.K. together since 2022, when they attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Harry has traveled to Britain alone since then and met his father during a trip last September.

The family meeting was a notable moment in relations strained by Harry and Meghan’s departure from royal duties, their move to California and public criticism of the royal family in interviews, a documentary and Harry’s memoir, “Spare.” The relationship between Harry and his brother, Prince William, remains fractured, the BBC reported, and there were no plans for the brothers to meet while Harry and Meghan were in the country. While the Sussexes were at Highgrove, William was playing in a charity polo match in Windsor.

Earlier Friday, Harry was in Birmingham for events counting down to the next Invictus Games. He was applauded by participants and supporters and tried pickleball and wheelchair rugby, according to the BBC. Meghan and the children did not accompany him on public engagements during the final two days of the visit, after earlier details had suggested Meghan would appear at events in London and Birmingham.

The trip also followed confusion over whether Harry would stay at Buckingham Palace. The BBC reported that his team had said he had accepted an invitation to stay there, but the palace quickly rejected that account and said Harry had already been told he would not be allowed to stay.

Harry also faced a legal setback this week. On Tuesday, the U.K. High Court dismissed long-running claims brought by Harry and other claimants, including Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley, against the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. They had accused the publisher of unlawfully gathering information through methods including phone tapping, intercepting voicemails and impersonation, but the court said the claims could not be proven.

In a separate case last year, the publisher of The Sun paid Harry “substantial damages” in an out-of-court settlement and apologized for hacking his phone.