The Royal Family has put on a united front near Balmoral after it was announced Harry and Meghan would be coming back to the UK – with Princess Kate seen smiling as she approached a church service.
William and Catherine, the Prince and Princess of Wales, were among those this morning gathering to go to church after a ‘summit’ in Aberdeenshire in Scotland.
They were seen in a car arriving for the service at Crathie Kirk, along with eldest son Prince George.
Also attending were King Charles and Queen Camilla, as well as Princess Anne and her husband Timothy Laurence and also the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Edward.
It emerged last Wednesday that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would be moving back after six years away in the US as their children prepare to start life at new schools in the UK.
Charles arrived at the Aberdeenshire summer retreat last Tuesday and the Prince and Princess of Wales have since been pictured at the estate, as well as the Princess Royal and her brother the Duke of Edinburgh.
William and Kate have not reacted publicly to the news of Harry and Meghan’s return, with the future king is estranged from his younger brother after Harry levelled a barrage of accusations against him, his wife and the King and Queen in the wake of stepping back from royal duties.
It has been reported the family was holding a ‘summit’ over the return of the Sussexes, though officials have suggested the gathering was in keeping with a longstanding annual tradition of extended family members staying at Balmoral during the summer.
The Prince and Princess of Wales, with son Prince George, are seen arriving to attend a Sunday church service at Crathie Kirk near the royal Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland
King Charles and Queen Camilla were also driven to the event on Sunday morning
Other attendees included Princess Anne and her husband Timothy Laurence, as well as the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Edward
The Prince and Princess of Wales are on a summer holiday at the Aberdeenshire estate their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
They have joined Charles and Camilla and a series of other royals for the annual trip to the Highlands, following the monarch’s arrival last Tuesday for his summer break.
Zara and Mike Tindall have also been spotted there, along with Peter Phillips and his new wife Harriet Sperling.
The news of Harry and Meghan’s UK comeback emerged last Wednesday evening, after the Balmoral gathering had begun.
Harry and Meghan’s children Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, have already enrolled at British schools and will start classes in September, according to a source close to the Sussexes.
The Sussexes are thought likely to live at a private, non-royal residence outside London – with suggestions they could be moving to the Cotswolds.
Since leaving for the US they have been living in Montecito, California, while also owning a holiday home in Portugal.
King Charles was described as being taken aback when only learning of their comeback plans last Sunday – having not been told when the Sussexes met him on their visit to Britain last month.
The Princess of Wales was seen smiling, with her son Prince George in the back of their car
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are planning to return to live in the UK, it has been revealed – the couple are pictured here at the Endeavour Fund Awards in London in March 2020
Sources said that the terms of the Megxit deal under which the Sussexes are not ‘working royals‘ will be unchanged.
The Sussexes’ status will remain the same, with the couple not being offered a ‘half in, half out’ option when it comes to their roles.
Harry and ex-Suits star Meghan, who wed at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in May 2018, were once dubbed part of the ‘Fab Four’ with the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – now the Prince and Princess of Wales.
But in March 2019, Buckingham Palace announced Harry and Meghan would set up their own household, breaking from the joint operation they had with William and Kate, amid reports of rifts between the two couples.
In January 2020, the Duke and Duchess announced they intended to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family, become financially independent, still support Elizabeth II, but split their time between the UK and North America.
By March that year they had set up a permanent home in California, officially stepped down as senior royals and stopped using their HRH styles.
The fallout worsened after accusations Harry publicly levelled at members of the Royal Family including his brother in his memoir Spare and his Netflix documentary.
In his autobiography, released just months after Queen Elizabeth II died, Harry accused William of physically attacking him and pushing him into a dog bowl in a row over Meghan.
He also alleged it was William and Kate who encouraged him to wear a Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party in 2005 and ‘howled’ with laughter when they saw it.
Harry and Meghan, in their Netflix series two months after the Queen’s death, claimed Kensington Palace lied to protect William when it issued a statement denying a story he had bullied Harry out of the Royal Family.
Harry also wrote of how Charles pleaded with his two sons during a tense meeting at Windsor just after the funeral of Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, saying: ‘Please, boys. Don’t make my final years a misery.’
Meghan was able to travel to the UK in July with Archie and Lilibet to join Harry when he came to the end of a week-long series of events promoting next year’s Invictus Games.
During the visit, the Duke and Duchess took their children to see the King for the first time in four years at his Highgrove home, but are not thought to have raised the prospect of a return to the UK at that meeting.
The Invictus Games take place from July 10 to 17 next year, with Birmingham expected to welcome about 550 wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans, and their families, from 25 nations.
Charles is said to be happy to be able to spend more time with the Sussex family, but remains adamant they will not be working royals.
Harry and Meghan have not commented on their reasons for relocating to the UK.
