Harry and Meghan Pick Nottingham for First Joint Outing Since UK Return

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle chose Nottingham for their first joint engagements since returning to Britain in the summer.

The outing is examined in a HELLO! feature published on 19 October, titled ‘They feel they have a right: Inside defiant Harry and Meghan's bold UK relaunch’ HELLO!. It describes a new British reality for the couple after their move back.

HELLO! correspondent Eleanor Dye travelled to Nottingham to watch them in person. She said she was struck by their clear delight to be out meeting people once again. They looked happy to be back.

The choice of city was full of history. Nottingham is where Harry and Meghan carried out their first official outing as a newly engaged couple almost nine years ago in 2017. Harry has also kept close ties to charities in the city for years.

That history sits alongside a sharp break. Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior working royals, the royals who carry out official duties on behalf of the monarch, in 2020. The decision followed the Sandringham summit in January 2020, where Queen Elizabeth II said they could not be ‘half in, half out’ while also pursuing commercial interests.

Their current status remains contested. King Charles recently stated in a letter to Harry and Meghan that they are still ‘private citizens’. An earlier letter sent on his behalf in September had made clear that any engagements by the couple would be in a private capacity BBC. The couple were reported to have been surprised by that letter.

Friends of the couple give a different account to HELLO!. One friend said Harry and Meghan ‘never agreed that they wouldn't be half in, half out’, adding that the arrangement ‘was decided and was foisted upon them’. The same friend said they can live as they do because they are financially independent. A long-time friend of Harry added: ‘They feel they have a right to’ live independent lives in the way they think they should.

What happens next looks split. HELLO! reported that Harry is likely to carry out more public engagements, with Meghan joining him less frequently. Representatives for the couple have stressed that each has separate interests to focus on BBC. The feature also covers Meghan reading scripts for a possible acting comeback, plans for where the family will spend Christmas, and how their children are settling into school.

Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet are central to that settling-in story. Ahead of the 2026-2027 school year, Meghan’s immediate focus was helping them settle into their new home. On 26 September, Harry gave an update on how the two children were settling into their new UK school.

What makes this stand out is the symmetry. Nine years after Nottingham introduced them as a royal couple, the city hosted them again as something else entirely: famous, familiar faces working outside the working royal fold.