Victoria Ward
The Duchess of Sussex said it was “wonderful to be back” as she and Prince Harry made their first joint appearance since returning to Britain.
The couple arrived at the Community Recording Studio (CRS) in the St Ann’s area of Nottingham shortly after 10.30am on Thursday (UK time).
A crowd of around 150 people, including schoolchildren, gathered to welcome the couple with flowers and balloons.
The duke and duchess spent 20 minutes greeting the crowd and posing for selfies. Several people welcomed them back to Britain, and the duchess told one woman in the crowd: “It’s wonderful to be back.”
At one point, the duchess told another member of the public: “We’ve got lovely weather today. We got lucky.”
Irene Hardman, 90, from Roddington, showed the Sussexes a photograph of herself meeting the couple in December 2017.
“Oh my god, what a wonderful memory,” Meghan said. “This was our very first walkabout. I remember it well. That was so special.”
Harry told Hardman that he remembered the visit too, though she replied: “I bet you don’t!”
“He’s so easy to talk to,” she said later.
“I first met him when he was a little boy. There were bigger crowds today though, but perhaps more media.”
Shaniana Saviciene gave the duchess a healing crystal to “protect and uplift” her, and explained: “It’s rose quartz, for love and protection, which I feel like she needs a lot of.
“She was so grateful. She said ‘thank you so much’.”
Sharon Reay, who had travelled from Mansfield with her sister Annah, asked the duchess if they could compare wedding rings because “she got married just before me”.
“It was so cute,” she said.
Margaret Langdon, 67, from the Carlton area of Nottingham, said their visit showed that “it’s not all about London” and “small cities matter”.
She added: “I’m a big fan. They’ve come to Nottingham to see us so the least we could do is come out and see them.
“It’s nice to see Meghan because it’s not very often you get a woman of colour in that position. So I’ve come out to support her.”
The couple’s arrival in Nottingham marked the duchess’s first public appearance in the UK since 2022, when she joined Prince Harry at Elizabeth II’s funeral.
However, sources told The Telegraph that such visits would be rare for the duchess, who instead had chosen to prioritise family, expanding her As Ever business and rebooting her acting career.
“She’s not a working royal, her day isn’t organised around a programme pulled together by a private secretary,” one said. “She’s a full-time mum and entrepreneur and that alone takes up a lot of time and work.”
The couple’s three Nottingham engagements will be widely compared with their first official outing as a couple in the same city in December 2017, when crowds lined the streets to catch a glimpse of Harry and his bride-to-be on their first royal walkabout.
The couple are keen to continue championing the causes they feel passionately about and the duchess is said to be ready to “stick her head above the parapet”.
“She’s up for it,” a source told Hello! magazine. “There are still causes and there are still issues that Meghan is really passionate about supporting, and Nottingham is one of those.”
The duke last visited the CRS in September 2025, when he made a donation of more than £1 million ($1.9 million) via Children In Need and told young people: “I’ll continue to stand with you. Nottingham has my respect, it always has, my commitment and a permanent place in my heart.”
This time, he will meet Jah Digga, a musician, poet and youth mentor who received support from the CRS as a child.
The duchess will join young girls for a confidence-building and bracelet-making workshop, combining creative activity with discussions about self-belief, resilience and handling rejection.
At Himmah Hub, a Nottingham-based community kitchen tackling poverty, racism and social exclusion, the duchess will be reunited with the women affected by the Grenfell Tower fire with whom she worked on the Hubb Community Kitchen cookbook.
Lastly, the couple will visit the youth charity Epic Partners, which supports children, young people and families in the St Ann’s and Sneinton areas through youth work, sport, mentoring and education.
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