Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have successfully managed to keep a low profile since their return to the UK last month. But that could be about to change.
Friends close to the Sussexes have opened up about the couple's movements in recent weeks, which have been focused on preparing for their children's first day at their new British prep school.
However, Meghan is also said to be focused on 'rekindling' her relationships with UK charities - and is expected to be photographed and publicised doing so.
Initially, when they left Britain in 2020, the Sussexes announced that they would “no longer participate in the royal rota system” that covers the royal family's public work.
But that seems to have changed with some royal rota reporters given access to Harry's engagements in Britain in recent years.
Now it seems that Meghan, too, will want press coverage. The Times reports that she, Harry, and their team are considering creating a new “framework that is fair” for media access to their engagements.
School uniform and pencil cases
Currently, however, their focus is on children Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five. The couple are prioritising settling them into their new family home and their new school, where they will enrol this week.
A friend told the publication that Harry and Meghan are still in the process of unpacking their things and recovering from jet lag. They have also been out buying school uniform and pencil cases - without being spotted.
The insider said that the couple are 'excited' to be back and for everything that will follow.
Meghan's plans
In the longer term, however, Meghan wants to return to her charity work.
A source close to Meghan told the publication that she wants to get more involved with supporting the causes she was involved with prior to stepping down, and also wants to look for more charitable projects to endorse.
Top of the list is likely Smart Works - one of four patronages she took on after her marriage to Harry in 2018, and the only one she retained after the Sussexes stepped back as working royals.
Smart Works is a UK charity that helps unemployed women gain the confidence, clothes, and skills they need to secure a job, and Meghan has continued to support the organisation from the US.
A representative from the charity recently told HELLO! that they "are very excited to welcome the Duchess and her family back to the UK".
Harry's return
Harry is also preparing to step back into the spotlight. Later this month, he will undertake several days of engagements with some of his patronages and organisations he supports, including the Invictus Games, WellChild and Imperial College's Centre for Blast Injury Studies.
He will also do a charity skydive this month, taking to the skies alongside fellow veterans to support Sunnybrook and the True Patriot Love Foundation, which aids military communities in Canada.
The skydive will be in honour of World War 2 veteran Ed Marshall, whom Harry met last year during a visit to Sunnybrook Veterans Centre in Toronto, and Harry will be joined by Ed's grandson Bailey.
No half-in half-out
While the Sussexes now live in far closer proximity to the royal family, they have accepted that there is no change to their status as non-working royals.
As such, they will not be invited to attend events such as Trooping the Colour or the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph.
Sources close to Harry, who served two tours of Afghanistan during a ten-year military career, say he may choose to publicly mark Remembrance Sunday with one of his military charities. “He will do whatever they want him to do,” a friend said.
It was the late Queen who firmly rejected a "half-in, half-out" royal role for Harry and Meghan during the January 2020 Sandringham summit, insisting that members of the royal family cannot selectively pick working duties while retaining commercial ties or official status.
It's a stance that her son, King Charles, seems set on seeing through.








