Prince Harry makes first public appearance since stepping back from royal role
Prince Harry made his first public appearance Thursday since the surprise announcement that he wife Meghan will be stepping back from their "senior" royal duties. Harry came to Buckingham Palace to make an announcement about one of Britain's top sporting events, looking calm and relaxed in spite of the fact that he's at the center of a major crisis for the royal family.
The prince resurfaced to discuss the Invictus Games, but how much more we'll see of him in the future remained unclear, according to Sunday Times' royal correspondent, Roya Nikkhah.
"His first public appearance since dropping that bombshell, that he is practically leaving the royal family, and what we don't know is whether this is the last public engagement he is going to be doing in a while," Nikkhah said.
Harry did not take any reporters' questions on the subject.
Queen Elizabeth II, the monarch and Harry's grandmother, has given her staff just days to work out what Harry and Meghan's new role as "stepped back" royals will be. But Meghan appears to have hit the ground running.
Meghan is currently in Canada. The couple plan to split their time between there and the U.K., and she made a surprise visit to a women's shelter earlier this week.
"It feels like she's already carving out that new role in Canada, while the details are being thrashed out here as to what that role will look like," Nikkhah noted.
As their future is determined, the Mail on Sunday newspaper is preparing to defend itself against a lawsuit filed by Meghan and Harry, accusing the paper of publishing private correspondence between Meghan and her father, Thomas Markle.
Legal documents show the paper has made the shocking suggestion that Meghan's father may testify against his own daughter.
"That is going to be toxic for the royal family, 'Markle vs Markle,' and all the details of the family communications and breakdown in a courtroom, that is not what the royal family wants to see,'' Nikkhah said.
It's still unclear when Harry will join his wife and son in Canada, but he has some meetings scheduled in that country early next week.
One top Canadian newspaper, meanwhile, already appeared to be giving the royal couple the cold shoulder, publishing an editorial saying the couple aren't welcome for constitutional reasons. The polls tell a different story — with most Canadians saying they don't mind.