Harry and Meghan visit Nottingham charities after UK return

Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, greeted cheering crowds in Nottingham on Thursday during their first joint public appearances since returning to live in the United Kingdom with their children.

The couple hugged well-wishers, posed for selfies and spoke with children outside the Community Recording Studio, a youth charity Harry has supported since 2013. Meghan, wearing a long burgundy coat, told one person, “it’s great to be back.” Chatting with another about the weather, she said, “we got lucky,” the BBC reported.

Nottingham holds a place in the couple’s history: It was where they made their first joint public appearance after announcing their engagement in 2017. Their spokesperson told the BBC they were “really excited” to return together and were visiting because they support the organizations’ work.

“They enjoy coming back to revisit projects they are personally invested in, to meet the same people and understand what is happening and how things are changing,” the spokesperson said.

Inside the recording studio, Meghan joined a bracelet-making workshop and spoke with young people about confidence. When a girl said she enjoyed gymnastics, Meghan replied that her daughter, Princess Lilibet, does too. “We have to remember to talk to ourselves like we talk to our best friends,” she told the group. “It’s really important to be just as kind to yourself.”

Trevor Rose, the studio’s chief executive, told the BBC he learned of the visit only a few weeks earlier. “I thought it was going to be something in the future, next thing I know it’s two weeks later and we are here,” he said.

The couple also visited Himmah Hub, a charity addressing food poverty, where they watched cooking classes and put on aprons to help prepare food parcels, according to the BBC. Their schedule included a third stop at Epic Partners, which supports young people through youth work, sport and mentoring.

The appearances resembled a royal engagement, but Harry and Meghan were visiting as supporters of the organizations, not as working members of the royal family. A letter sent on behalf of King Charles III to senior government and military officials confirmed that status, NBC News reported. A spokesperson for the couple told NBC News they were “surprised” by the letter.

The visit also comes amid questions about their security. The BBC reported that they had a private security team with them in Nottingham and that local police were understood to be aware of the visit. The BBC also reported that Ravec, the committee overseeing royal and VIP security, is reconsidering their level of publicly funded police protection now that the couple and their children are full-time UK residents rather than visitors.

Harry and Meghan returned from California in August with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet after six years in the United States. Their children have since changed schools; the BBC reported that the move followed concerns raised by the family’s security team about the school run. NBC News royal contributor Emily Nash said she had been told the children were settling in well at their new school.