Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, on Tuesday reposted a short clip of Prince Harry at the WellChild Awards, marking her first public Instagram activity since the Duke of Sussex travelled to the United Kingdom for a four-day series of engagements.
The clip, originally shared by WellChild on social media and later circulated by Hello! Magazine, shows Harry playfully sword-fighting with balloons against nine-year-old award recipient Gwen. Meghan added no caption to her Instagram story but attached two pink heart emojis. The children honoured at the WellChild Awards included young people and families being recognised for their resilience and community contributions.
Harry, 40, attended several public engagements on Monday and Tuesday, including a private visit to St George's Chapel at Windsor where he laid flowers and paid his respects on the third anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's death. Later he took part in the 20th-anniversary celebration of the WellChild Awards at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London, where he was pictured giving each young guest his attention and accepting personalised Brighton & Hove Albion shirts that Gwen brought as gifts for his children, Archie and Lilibet.
During the same period, the Duke announced a donation of £1.1 million to BBC Children in Need during a visit to the Community Recording Studio in Nottingham. The donation is aimed at supporting work that tackles violence affecting young people, organisers said. Harry was greeted by a modest crowd in Nottingham and arrived later than scheduled after traffic delays linked to London's Tube strike.
Some media coverage has described Harry's programme of appearances as a "pseudo-royal" tour; the Duke made clear public-facing charitable work was central to the visit. About 100 locals — markedly fewer than the crowds that greeted Harry and Meghan during earlier joint visits in 2017 — gathered in Nottingham to observe the engagement.
Prince William and the Princess of Wales conducted separate engagements on Monday marking the same anniversary. William visited a local branch of the National Federation of Women's Institutes and was asked about Prince Louis; he described his youngest son as "a character" and "a very good boy." The Prince of Wales also confirmed funding through his Homewards initiative to support Spiral Skills' move to a new youth hub at The Oasis Village in Tulse Hill.
It is not known whether Prince Harry will meet King Charles III during the trip. The King and Queen Camilla are at Balmoral and have no public engagements scheduled this week. Harry and the King last met in February 2024, when the Duke made a brief transatlantic trip following the monarch's cancer diagnosis.
Relations between Harry and senior members of the royal family have remained strained. Harry has publicly criticised family members in interviews, a Netflix documentary and his memoir, and he has been engaged in legal proceedings over his UK security arrangements. He lost an appeal in May against the Home Office's decision about his protection levels and told the BBC earlier this year that the security dispute had limited the prospects of bringing his wife and children back to the UK.
Despite those tensions, Harry has said he hopes for reconciliation with his family. In public remarks this year he acknowledged that some relatives "will never forgive" him for publishing his memoir but added that he would like to reconcile.
Meghan's social-media repost came hours after Harry's private tribute at Windsor and his public work in London and Nottingham. The duchess and the duke maintain residences in Montecito, California; reports said their two children remained in the United States during Harry's visit.
Representatives for Buckingham Palace and the Sussexes did not immediately provide comment on whether any private family meetings were planned during the duke's stay.