Prince Harry Slips Into London Event Meghan Markle Was Supposed to Attend with Him

It was announced that Meghan and their children would not join Prince Harry in London amid security concerns

NEED TO KNOW

• Prince Harry continued his U.K. trip with private meetings related to the Invictus Games Foundation at the Royal Hospital Chelsea on Wednesday, July 8
• The Duke of Sussex is in the U.K. as the Invictus Games marks the one-year countdown to the 2027 event in Birmingham, England
• Although Meghan Markle was initially scheduled to join Harry at the engagement, it was announced that she and their children wouldn’t join the London portion of the trip amid security concerns

Prince Harry kept a low profile for his latest outing in London.

The Duke of Sussex, 41, continued his U.K. trip on Wednesday, July 8, attending a series of private meetings related to the Invictus Games Foundation at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, a nursing facility for veterans of the British Army.

Harry avoided the waiting reporters and photographers by entering the hospital grounds via a side road just before 12:30 p.m. local time.

Coincidentally, Queen Camilla was seen being driven past the hospital about 40 minutes before Prince Harry arrived. The Queen, 78, was en route to the Wimbledon tennis championships.

Meghan Markle was originally scheduled to join her husband for the outing to the Royal Hospital Chelsea. However, it was announced on July 4 that Meghan, 44, and the couple's two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, would not join the Duke of Sussex in London due to security concerns. No decision had yet been made on whether the family would reunite with Harry for other parts of his homeland visit outside the capital.

Prince Harry returned to his home country this week as the Invictus Games, an adaptive sporting competition for service personnel and veterans, marks the one-year countdown to the 2027 event in Birmingham.

Prince Harry, a British Army veteran, created the Invictus Games after being inspired by the U.S.’s Warrior Games, and the first event was held in London in 2014. The Birmingham Games will mark its return to the U.K. after events in Orlando (2016), Toronto (2017), Sydney (2018), The Hague (slated for 2020 but delayed until 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Düsseldorf (2023) and Vancouver-Whistler (2025).

Prince Harry’s visit to the Royal Hospital Chelsea came after he arrived in the U.K. on July 6 and made a surprise appearance at the premiere of friend and photographer Misan Harriman’s documentary that evening.

The following day, Harry attended the 14th Invictus Games Foundation Conversation: From Policy to Practice at Chatham House in London. Also on July 7, news came that Harry and six other high-profile claimants lost their legal case against Associated Newspapers Limited, which they accused of illegal information gathering. The court found they could not prove their claims.

Meghan has previously joined her husband at the Invictus Games and similar one-year-to-go countdown events. The sporting competition also marks a major milestone in their relationship. The future Duke and Duchess of Sussex made their debut as a couple at the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto, where Meghan lived while filming Suits when she first met Harry.

After Meghan attended the Invictus Games opening ceremony in Toronto, the couple cemented their relationship status by holding hands during their first joint appearance to watch the wheelchair tennis event.

“There is nowhere you can feel more embraced and supported than with the Invictus family,” Prince Harry told PEOPLE exclusively in 2022. “The Toronto Games were our first time out and about publicly in an official way. We were dating at the time, so it was a lot to take in, but fortunately, we were with the perfect community for that.

“I had always wanted to share these incredible moments with someone special, and to have Meg by my side means everything,” he added.

When it comes to bringing Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet to the Invictus Games, Prince Harry told PEOPLE in 2022, “We can’t wait,” he said, adding that he had already introduced his son to the competition.

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“I showed Archie a video of wheelchair basketball and rugby from the Invictus Games in Sydney, and he absolutely loved it,” he said. “I showed him how some were missing legs and explained that some had invisible injuries too. Not because he asked, but because I wanted to tell him. Kids understand so much, and to see it through his eyes was amazing because it’s so unfiltered and honest.”

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