Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have announced a surprise visit to the U.K. and Germany in early September to undertake a round of charity engagements.
The four-day trip will include two visits to organizations in Britain, marking the couple's first return to the country since the Platinum Jubilee celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II in June.
A spokesperson for the couple confirmed on Monday that: "Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are delighted to visit with several charities close to their hearts in early September."
The couple's visit to Europe will take place from September 5 to 8 and include stays in the U.K. and Germany where Harry's 2023 Invictus Games are being staged in Dusseldorf.
The tour will begin in the British city of Manchester on September 5 for the One Young World 2022 summit. The organization, which focusses on fostering and mentoring young people to become empowered leaders in their communities, has a close association with Meghan which predates her marriage to Harry.
Meghan served as a counselor in One Young World summits in 2014 in Dublin, 2016 in Ottawa and also attended the opening ceremony of the summit held in London in 2019.
The second engagement of the tour will take place in Dusseldorf on September 6 to mark the one-year waypoint to the 2023 Invictus Games which will be held in the city.
The games were founded by the prince in 2014 to provide a platform for wounded, sick and injured servicemen and women. Both Harry and Meghan have attended the games since their relationship became public in 2016, most recently visiting The Netherlands for the 2022 events in April.
The final charity visit of the tour is scheduled back in Britain on September 8 with a visit to the WellChild Awards 2022. The awards celebrate the inspirational journeys and achievements of seriously ill children and young people across the U.K. Harry and Meghan attended the awards in person in 2018 and 2019.
Harry also attended the 2021 awards ceremony, but without his wife, during a visit to Britain where he joined Prince William at the unveiling of a statue to Princess Diana at Kensington Palace on what would have been her 60th birthday.
The September visit will take place at a poignant time for Harry, following closely the 25th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana on August 31.
The prince will notably be away from Britain, in Germany for the Invictus Games engagement, on the anniversary of the princess' Westminster Abbey funeral which took place on September 6, 1997.
The announcement of the visit also comes as Harry has filed a second lawsuit against the U.K. government over the decision taken in 2020 to reduce the security he is allocated when visiting the country since stepping down as a working member of the royal family.
In July, a judge ruled that the prince could proceed with his first lawsuit during which his legal team is to argue that he should have been able to make representations to the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (RAVEC) before they made a final decision to reduce his allocation, and that he should have been allowed to comment on the information they considered in relation to his case.
The second lawsuit challenges the decision to disallow private individuals to personally pay for British police protection.
Both are currently ongoing.
While both Harry and Meghan are confirmed to be making the visit to Europe for the charity visits it is not yet known whether the couple will be accompanied by their two children; Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1.
If they are it would provide them with a second opportunity within the space of three months to visit their British relations, the majority of whom had not been introduced to Lilibet until the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, including great-grandmother the queen.
Newsweek approached representatives of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for comment.
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About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
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