Harry and Meghan visit Queen on way to Invictus Games

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex met the Queen on Thursday after flying into the UK, a spokesperson for the couple confirmed to the BBC. The couple stopped at Windsor on their way to The Hague, in the Netherlands, for the Invictus Games. Prince Harry was last reported to be in the UK in July, while Meghan is not thought to have been in the country since 2020.

The Sussexes stepped down as senior royals in January 2020. Their trip to the UK comes after Prince Harry was absent from a memorial service for his grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, in London last month.

The Queen is not expected to attend this year's Easter morning church service having already pulled out of the Maundy Service on Thursday - for the first time since 1970. The 95-year-old monarch has mobility problems and has pulled out of several events recently, including the annual Commonwealth Service.

The duchess last appeared in the UK at the Commonwealth Day Service in March 2020 while the duke was in the UK to unveil a statue of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, in July last year.

The couple are on their way to the Invictus Games in the Netherlands, which will take place from 16 to 22 April. A film crew is expected to be joining the couple at the games as part of filming for a Netflix series called Heart Of Invictus.

Prince Harry founded the games to aid the rehabilitation of injured or sick military personnel and veterans from across the globe. Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty Magazine, described the visit as "a very welcome if long overdue move" on the part of Harry and Meghan.

The couple's visit comes as Prince Harry is bringing a court challenge against the government's decision to refuse police security during his visits from the US. His lawyers previously said that the UK would "always be his home" and it "goes without saying that he does want to come back to see family and friends".

Since the duchess was last in the UK she has given an emotional interview in which she said life in the Royal Family had been so difficult she "didn't want to be alive any more" and the couple's daughter Lillibet, named after the Queen's family nickname, was born.

But while it may have been some time since the duchess has seen the Queen in person, during an appearance on The Late Late Show in 2021 Prince Harry revealed that the monarch had used Zoom to video call the family.