Harry and Meghan to land back in UK for first time since Megxit
27 February 2020, 16:37
Harry and Meghan are set to step foot on UK soil for the first time as a couple since announcing their retirement from royal duties.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will celebrate the achievements of wounded servicemen and servicewomen in London on 5 March.
They will appear at the Endeavour Fund Awards in Mansion House to honour sick and injured military personnel who have taken part in sporting and adventure challenges over the past year.
The couple’s last public appearance in Britain was on 7 January when they visited the Canadian Embassy in London to pay gratitude for their six-week stay in the country over Christmas.
It came the day before the Sussexes landed the royal family in turmoil with their shock announcement that they were standing down as senior royals.
It sparked the opening of the Megxit rift that saw the Queen forced to stage a crisis summit with Prince Charles and Prince William at Sandringham in January, in an attempt to meet their demands to become financially independent with a new life stateside.
It was later announced they would give up royal duties, split their time between Canada and the UK, with the majority spent in North America, no longer be known as HRH, and their lives as working royals would officially end on March 31.
The duke’s new chapter was evident on Wednesday when he asked travel delegates at an Edinburgh conference on his new eco-travel project to call him simply Harry.
Earlier this month the couple withdrew their application to trademark the Sussex Royal brand name after being stripped of their titles from Spring 2020 onwards.
The Endeavour Fund event, which will see four awards given out, will be the first of a series of royal engagements that are likely to be among the couple's last major British outings as working royals.
It is a body set up by the Royal Foundation to finance inspiring sporting and adventure projects aiding the recovery of veterans.
The day after the awards ceremony, Harry will join Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton at the official opening of the Silverstone Experience, a museum about British motor racing.
The couple will also attend the Mountbatten Festival of Music at the Royal Albert Hall on March 7 and Meghan will mark International Women's Day.
The Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on March 9, a staple event in the royal calendar usually attended by all senior members of the family, is likely to be their last official appearance alongside the Queen.
