Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are planning a trip to the Queen’s Scottish estate, Balmoral, this summer, according to The Sunday Times. It will be the first visit to the UK for baby Archie since the Sussexes left for Canada post-Megxit.
According to reports, the Queen was reportedly ‘very sad’ that Archie did not join the Sussexes on their final royal engagements this month. Archie instead remained in Canada under the care of Meghan’s best friend and unofficial maid of honour, Jessica Mulroney.
It’s not Harry and Meghan’s first invitation to Scotland: last September the Queen extended an invitation to the Sussexes and Archie, but Harry and Meghan declined on the grounds that Archie was' too young for the trip.’ (This allegedly 'puzzled some members of the royal family', says The Times, as Archie has accompanied the royals on many trips abroad, including a vacation with Elton John in Ibiza). .
As well as the Sussexes’ trip to Balmoral, they are reportedly also planning to spend some quality time with Prince Charles at his own estate, Birkhall. Archie, who has remained in Canada since the Sussexes announced the news that they were stepping back as senior royals in January, has only met the Cambridges’ children Prince George, Prince Charlotte and Prince Louis, only a handful of times. It is unclear as to whether the cousins will join Archie during Harry and Meghan's impending trip this summer.
The news comes at a time at a time of uncertainty and confusion for the Sussexes as they depart from their lives as senior royals. Indeed, last week, Prince Harry was duped into talking to two Russian pranksters who were posing as Greta Thurnberg and her father. In the phone call, the royal spoke candidly about his decision to leave the Royal family. ‘I can assure you,’ Harry told ‘Greta’. ‘Marrying a Prince or Princess is not all it's made out to be! But sometimes the right decision isn't always the easy one.’ He also spoke about how Trump has ‘blood on his hands’ for ‘pushing the coal industry in America’, and said that he thinks Boris Johnson is a ‘good man’, albeit ‘set in his ways’. Harry even spoke about the allegations against Prince Andrew saying ,’Whatever he has done or hasn't done, is completely separate from me and my wife. We operate in a way of inclusivity and we are focusing on community. We are completely separate from the majority of my family.’