Duke and Duchess of Sussex had US Thanksgiving with family

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex spent Thanksgiving ‘celebrating with close family’ on a ‘long-time trip to the US’, a royal commentator claimed today.

Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan Markle, 38, are currently undertaking a six-week break from royal duties, although it has not been announced where the couple are spending their time. 

But speaking on The HeirPod Podcast, royal correspondent  Omid Scobie revealed that the Sussexes ‘celebrated Thanksgiving privately with close family’ on a ‘long time trip to the US’.

The news follows weeks of speculation that the couple would spend their first holiday as a family of three in Meghan’s hometown Los Angeles with her mother Doria Ragland. 

There was also speculation last week that the couple might have been in Canada, after they added a maple leaf emoji to their Thanksgiving message on Instagram. 

 Omid said: ‘The Sussexes are away, they’re on their break right up until Christmas. They celebrated Thanksgiving privately with close family, which is lovely.’

Speaking of the couple’s absence from this week’s reception for NATO leaders at Buckingham Palace, Royal Producer at ITV News, Lizzie Robinson, added: ‘We know they’re away, they’re not even in the country.’

Omid went on: ‘It’s a long-time trip that they’re on, I think we are really going to see them away until Christmas as far as I’m aware, which is good for them.’ 

And when Omid said an aide had told him the couple ‘welcomed the break’, Lizzie went on to say they also ‘probably’ welcomed ‘being away, and back home for Meghan, in the US’.  

Royal reporter Lizzie Robinson said that Meghan ‘probably welcomed being back home in the US’, where her mother Doria Ragland continues to live (pictured together in May 2018)  

It’s the Sussexes’ first Thanksgiving as a family of three, after they welcomed their son Archie Mountbatten Windsor in May.

Meghan is known to be very close to her mother Doria, who was the only member of her family to attend the royal wedding in May last year. 

If the Sussexes joined her at her LA home for the holidays, it would mark the first time Meghan has taken her son back to her hometown. 

Meghan and her mother are known to be very close, with Doria regularly taking trips to visit and support her daughter over the past year (pictured, introducing son Archie to the Queen and Prince Philip in June) 

Last week royal correspondent Katie Nicholl told OK magazine that Meghan would likely do the cooking for the down-to-earth family.

She said: ‘Meghan loves being in the kitchen. She’s a talented chef and takes great pleasure in bringing people together over a family meal.

‘There won’t be any staff helping her – she’ll definitely be wearing the apron’.

Omid suggested they would be ‘away until Christmas’, with a question mark remaining over where they will spend the holiday 

There is also a question mark hanging over where the couple and Archie will spend Christmas, after it was confirmed they will not be at Sandringham with the Queen.

Despite Her Majesty giving her grandson her full support, royals sources said the monarch was initially in the dark about Harry’s festive plans until he called her at Buckingham Palace earlier this month to decline her open invite.

The announcement came after Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan opened up about struggling with royal life and public scrutiny in the explosive ITV programme Meghan and Harry: An African Journey, in which the Duchess claimed that not many people have asked if she’s ‘okay’.