Platinum Jubilee celebrations: Queen meets Harry and Meghan’s daughter Lilibet for the first time

The Queen has reportedly met her great-granddaughter Lilibet for the first time after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had lunch with the monarch and senior royals behind closed doors as part of Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are said to have introduced their little girl to the Queen – nicknamed Lilibet as a child – yesterday at Windsor after attending a private Royal Family lunch at Buckingham Palace following Trooping the Colour.

News of the Queen’s alleged meeting with Lilibet yesterday – which comes ahead of her first birthday tomorrow – was revealed on BBC Breakfast today by royal commentator Omid Scobie, who is friendly with the Sussexes.

He said: ‘I think people are expecting some sort of big birthday extravagant event, that we’re going to see photographs from. From what I’m told, we shouldn’t expect anything. Those moments with Lilibet are very much private between them and the Queen and of course we know how much she’s been looking forward to it.

‘They’ve been held back by a pandemic. Of course the times that Harry has been here it’s just been by himself for quite sombre occasions. And so this really was the first time. Of course we know the Queen went back to Windsor Castle yesterday, the couple went back to Windsor as well where they’re staying at Frogmore Cottage. So that would have been the first moment or the first chance for her to meet her namesake.’

Harry and Meghan are expected to remain mostly low-profile over the four-day Jubilee weekend, with no sign of the Netflix cameras that followed them around at the Invictus Games in the Netherlands in April. But they will attend today’s Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral – their first joint royal engagement in two years.

Prince Charles will officially represent the Queen at the service in London today after she was forced to pull out last night, and there will also be no appearance from Prince Andrew after he tested positive for coronavirus. The Queen will be watching the service on television from Windsor Castle, and it will be broadcast on BBC One.

The Sussexes, who are staying at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor while visiting from California, were not allowed on the Buckingham Palace balcony yesterday and instead watched proceedings from Horse Guards Parade.

But today’s service will be Harry and Meghan’s first appearance with The Firm since the frosty Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey in March 2020 shortly before they officially stepped down as senior royals.

The 96-year-old Queen will miss today’s service at St Paul’s following a last-minute decision announced by the Palace at 7.30pm last night after she experienced ‘discomfort’ during the Trooping The Colour events.

She is understood to have suffered episodic mobility issues yesterday – and, in a statement, the Palace revealed the Queen ‘greatly enjoyed’ her birthday parade and flypast but ‘did experience some discomfort’.

It said: ‘Taking into account the journey and activity required to participate in tomorrow’s National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, Her Majesty, with great reluctance, has concluded that she will not attend.’

It is understood the decision ahead of the service, which began at 11.30am today, was considered regrettable but sensible due to the length of the journey and time involved and the physical demands the service would require.

Senior members of the monarchy at St Paul’s included the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Sussexes, who were joined by the extended royal family.

He said: ‘I think people are expecting some sort of big birthday extravagant event, that we’re going to see photographs from. From what I’m told, we shouldn’t expect anything.

‘Those moments with Lilibet are very much private between them and the Queen and of course we know how much she’s been looking forward to it.

‘They’ve been held back by a pandemic. Of course the times that Harry has been here it’s just been by himself for quite sombre occasions. And so this really was the first time.

‘Of course we know the Queen went back to Windsor Castle yesterday, the couple went back to Windsor as well where they’re staying at Frogmore Cottage. So that would have been the first moment or the first chance for her to meet her namesake.’

Yesterday, Harry and Meghan made a concerted effort not to be seen by prying eyes as they watched Trooping the Colour yesterday, arriving incognito at Horse Guards Parade and studiously keeping away from most  – although not all – of the waiting photographers.

The couple arrived in the UK on Wednesday afternoon, flying in by private jet from Los Angeles to Farnborough Airport in Hampshire, where they were picked up by royal bodyguards and taken to Frogmore Cottage.

Yesterday a Range Rover with a modest escort swept them in to Central London and onto Whitehall, where they took up position in the Major General’s Office overlooking the parade ground ready for the other royals to arrive.

Among the first to greet them were Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edo, as well as the Queen’s grandson Peter Phillips.

Meghan was seen kissing his elder daughter, Savannah, 11, as his younger daughter, Isla, 10, held Zara and Mike Tindall’s younger daughter Lena, almost four.

As Princess Beatrice’s husband, Edo Mapelli-Mozzi, looked on, Meghan, 40, appeared to be sharing a secret with the youngsters, who were joined by the Tindalls’ eldest daughter Mia, eight.

Meghan, wearing a large wide-brimmed navy and white hat, put her finger mysteriously to her lips as the girls mimicked her, laughing.

Her husband, Harry, 37, who looked tanned in a lounge suit rather than military uniform, was also seen later entering into the spirit of things, apparently urging Lena to ‘shush’.

The couple were later seen chatting to the Queen’s cousin, the Duke of Kent, 86, before he left the family gathering to join the monarch at Buckingham Palace, where they took the returning military salute together.

Last month Buckingham Palace revealed that the Queen had personally decided to only invite working members of the Royal Family and some of their children onto the Buckingham Palace balcony with her.

This neatly sidestepped the tricky issue about what to do with Harry, Meghan and Andrew who have all quit royal duties.

But while Andrew wasn’t invited to join the family following his shaming over his links to billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, she did extend an olive branch to the Sussexes to join other family members at Horse Guards to watch the parade from the windows of the Duke of Wellington’s old office.

Those on the Buckingham Palace balcony also included the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duchess of Cambridge and her three children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis – after they had arrived by carriage along with the Earl and Countess of Wessex and their two children, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Princess Anne’s husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence.

Princess Alexandra, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent were also present as well as the children of Princess Margaret, Lord Snowden and Lady Sarah Chatto, and their families.

As for Harry and Meghan, Mr Scobie told BBC Breakfast today that he ‘spoke to people close to the couple’ who said that the couple ‘wanted to be as low profile as possible during this trip’.

He continued: ‘It is almost hard to believe, but I think that yesterday at Trooping the Colour was a great example. We didn’t really catch sight of them on TV cameras. There were a few grainy photos of them in existence online but that is about as far as it goes.

‘And for them being here is all about honouring and really celebrating the life and legacy of the Queen. Someone that they have continued a very warm and close relationship with. 

‘Of course we know that is not the same with the other family members and today will be very interesting to see them alongside some of them.

‘I was with the couple on their last day in the UK, on Meghan’s last engagement, and of course we remember they also went on to that Westminster Abbey Commonwealth service. 

‘Very awkward moments between the Sussexes and the Cambridges. It was almost sort of at the peak of the tensions between them and the institutions of the monarchy.

‘A lot of that has softened since then. It doesn’t meant that the relationships have necessarily gotten back on track to how they once were. I think all eyes will be on them today just to see how they all are with the other members of the family.

‘But of course everyone is here to celebrate the faith, the reign and the lifetime of service of the Queen. 

‘And I think for them, despite the fact that they broke away from the firm, they always said that they had carried out their work. Holding, upholding the same principles and values as Her Majesty.’

However, royal expert Angela Levin told Talk TV: ‘I felt when I saw them ‘what are you doing here, you are irrelevant, why are you here? I was very angry when they wound the window down of their car.

She added: ‘My instinct was that ‘what are you doing here’. I don’t think you can trash someone and then turn up with smiles.’

There has also been speculation that the couple may try to get Lilibet christened while they are in the UK in the private chapel at Windsor Castle, where Archie was also christened in 2019. 

Earlier this week it was reported that Harry and Meghan had promised to keep a low profile to avoid overshadowing the Jubilee.

The Sussexes are ensuring that their appearances are ‘strictly limited’, arriving with their two children Archie, three, and Lilibet, who will turn one on Saturday, but ‘without any of their senior staff’, according to ITV.

They are, reportedly, leaving the ‘most trusted members of their team’ in the United States and plan to ‘keep it simple’.

Relationships have been so poor between the couple and Buckingham Palace that royal aides have been kept in the dark about the majority of their itinerary.

There has also been genuine irritation that Harry spoke about meeting with his grandmother back in April to an American broadcaster just days later, saying: ‘I’m just making sure that she’s protected and got the right people around her’, which was seen as critical of her loving family and devoted staff. ‘

Well-placed sources have stressed they should definitely not be expected ‘at every event’ over the extended Bank Holiday weekend. However they are expected at today’s service at St Paul’s.

It will be the couple’s longest stay in Britain since they acrimoniously quit as working royals and moved first to Canada and then the US more than two years ago.

One royal insider said they believed the couple had taken their ‘low-key’ cue from the Queen, who has made clear that she doesn’t even want the Jubilee celebrations to be about herself but a means to bring the nation together after a difficult few years.

‘Her Majesty has made clear that this shouldn’t even be about herself, let alone family dramas. Even the Sussexes respect that,’ they said.

Another source said palace aides had been acutely aware of ‘the optics’ – how things would look from the outside – and ensured that the couple were only attending events where there would be minimal interactions with other senior royals in public.

Asked if the duke and duchess would appear at any other events over the weekend, particularly with their children, they said: ‘I really wouldn’t expect them at everything.’

They added: ‘It’s a typically elegant solution as you would expect. The Queen wants her family there and they are still part of it. But in a carefully controlled fashion.’

Roya Nikkah, royal editor at The Sunday Times, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We only saw a tiny glimpse of Harry and Meghan yesterday watching it privately from the Major General’s office.

‘Today, very different picture. They will be right at the heart of the royal family, sitting there with the senior royals. This is the moment in a day where the Queen wanted all her family with her.

It will be a similar procession to what we saw in the Commonwealth Day service. I think they will come in with other members of the royal family, other senior royals. But we always knew that the Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, and the Cambridges were going to be right at the front of the procession.’

Speaking about the Queen deciding against attending today’s service, Ms Nikkah added: ‘We are in transition. The Queen is doing as much as she possibly can. I thought it was wonderful to see her twice yesterday, three times even, but this is the new reality.

‘She was so determined yesterday, to acknowledging she wasn’t going to be able to make it on Horse Guards Parade, to come out twice onto the balcony. She saw that people really wanted to see her.

‘I think last night, to not delegate a royal understudy at Windsor Castle and to go on and do that herself, even though you could see she was slightly struggling. I thought what a trooper but the Queen enjoyed yesterday, she was very keen on Buckingham Palace letting everyone know how much she enjoyed it and she will be watching at home today.’

Meanwhile key workers, charity volunteers and members of the armed forces have been invited to the Queen’s service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s today in recognition of their contribution to public life.

More than 400 people, who have been making a difference either nationally or locally, are among the guests and many have been working tirelessly during the pandemic.

They will join members of the royal family at St Paul’s Cathedral to celebrate the monarch’s 70-year reign, although the Queen herself will not attend after experiencing ‘some discomfort’ during Thursday’s events following previous mobility issues.

The Bishop of London said today that she is ‘excited’ ahead of the thanksgiving service. Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally, who will be leading the blessing at St Paul’s, told BBC Breakfast: ‘I’m excited, I think.’ 

She added that she was nervous about the ceremonial regalia she needs to wear. ‘It’s a coat called the George V coat. ‘It’s quite an old coat, which is a cape and it sits on me, but of course it was designed for men because I’m the first woman who happens to be the Bishop of London,’ she said. ‘So, it doesn’t sit quite as well on me, so I’m slightly nervous.’

She said that Her Majesty’s Christian faith has ‘always shaped her’ and she feels privileged to play a part in the service and ‘give thanks’ to The Queen for her service to the country.

And the Dean of St Paul’s said today’s thanksgiving service represents the nation ‘picking up the baton’ from The Queen as a thank you for her years of service.

The Very Revd Dr David Ison told BBC Breakfast: ‘I think, for me, what this service is about, is saying not only thank you, but also we are picking up the baton of what The Queen has done. We ourselves are committing to how we can make the world a better place.’

He said of the service: ‘I always get nervous. You can’t help it because you want it to go well and therefore you’re nervous to make sure it does goes well and worried about what might go wrong.’

He also spoke about an incident during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee when his cape ripped.

‘I put on my cape and I was bounding down the stairs of the vestry and I caught the cape on the door latch and ripped it and this is in the afternoon, before the service.

‘So, they had an emergency embroiderer who came in early in the morning to stitch it back up again.’

Later, Dr David will say in The Bidding: ‘We come together in this Cathedral Church today to offer to God our thanks and praise for the reign of Her Majesty the Queen and especially for her 70 years of faithful and dedicated service.

‘As we gather from communities across her realm and the Commonwealth of Nations, we rejoice in the diverse and varied lives of all those whom she serves, and in the beauty and abundance of the world in which we live.

‘Inspired by words and music, we pray that God will continue to bless and guide Her Majesty, and that we may all receive grace to honour life and to live in harmony with one another; and we continue to pray for those whose lives are marred by conflict, suffering and tragedy.

‘And mindful of the call of God to look to the needs of others, we commit ourselves afresh to caring for our world and all for whom it is home, striving always to seek out and nurture that which is good in people and in all creation.’

Those invited in recognition of their service have all been recipients of honours in the New Year or Birthday Honours lists and their number also includes public servants and representatives from social enterprises and voluntary groups.

Boris Johnson, who will give a New Testament reading, and members of his Cabinet are among the guests along with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, first ministers of the devolved governments and former prime ministers.

The diplomatic world will be represented by high commissioners and ambassadors from across the world and also attending are governors general and clergy from world faiths.

The Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell will give the sermon after the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby tested positive for Covid-19. The Dean of the Chapel Royal, Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London, will give the Collect and the Blessing, and the Dean of St Paul’s will conduct the service.

Young people representing countries where the Queen is head of state will lead the ‘Act of Commitment’ celebrating the life and reign of the monarch, led by the Reverend Robert Kozak.

During the day, one of the country’s largest bells, the Great Paul, will be rung before and after the service, the first time it will have been heard at a royal occasion.

The event will feature a new anthem by Judith Weir, Master of the Queen’s Music, that sets to music words from the third Chapter of the Book of Proverbs.

Bible readings, hymns and prayers to express thankfulness for the Queen’s reign, faith and service will also be heard by the congregation as the nation marks the monarch’s 70 years on the throne.

Before the service begins, the Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines Portsmouth (Royal Band), will play as the congregation arrives and the State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry will perform to mark royal arrivals, while the Fanfare Trumpeters of the Central Band of the Royal Air Force will accompany later in the service.

The choirs of St Paul’s Cathedral and Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal will join together to sing the Vivats, I Was Glad by Sir Hubert Parry, performed at every coronation and now for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Today, the Princess Royal will see penguins at Edinburgh Zoo as members of the royal family visit the nations of the UK to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee.

She will be joined by her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, on her visit to the Scottish capital on Friday.

Anne will join children for an animal handling session in the Rainforest Room at the zoo, before visiting the penguin enclosure. She will then visit HMS Albion and inspect a Guard of Honour before boarding the ship.

On the flight deck of the amphibious assault vessel the princess will meet members of the ship’s company and representatives from charities across Scotland supported by the Queen and Anne as patrons, before cutting a commemorative cake.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Earl and Countess of Wessex will visit Wales and Northern Ireland respectively.

William and Kate will travel to Cardiff on Saturday to meet some of Wales’s best-known performers before a Platinum Jubilee celebration concert.

They will meet the crew behind the event at Cardiff Castle, learning about the lighting, sound and visual effects for the show before helping with the final preparations.

The couple will also watch rehearsals and meet Aled Jones and Shan Cothi, both hosting the show which will feature Mike Peters from The Alarm, singer Bonnie Tyler, West End star John Owen Jones, drumming weatherman Owain Wyn Evans and the Pendyrus Male Voice Choir.

The performances will finish at 7pm and the crowds can then watch the Platinum Party at the Palace on giant screens in the castle grounds.

Over the extended Jubilee bank holiday weekend the Earl and Countess of Wessex will carry out two engagements in Northern Ireland.

Sophie and Edward will meet children taking part in multicultural street performances, join in with art and craft sessions, and speak to people sharing their personal memories of meeting the Queen.

Last night, the Queen symbolically led the lighting of the principal Platinum Jubilee beacon in a spectacular end to the first day of historic national commemorations celebrating her 70-year-reign.

The monarch’s late-night appearance at Windsor Castle rounded off the start to joyful festivities which saw the Queen take to the Buckingham Palace balcony surrounded by her family.

Hours after it was announced the head of state would miss the service at St Paul’s Cathedral, she rallied as planned to take part in a special dual beacon-lighting ceremony with the Duke of Cambridge.

William watched his grandmother on a large screen in front of Buckingham Palace, while the Queen triggered the lighting of the principal beacon – a 69ft tall Tree of Trees sculpture outside her London residence – from Windsor.

The Queen touched the Commonwealth of Nations Globe to start the lighting of the main beacon 22 miles away.

Lights chased along the Quadrangle towards Windsor’s famous Round Tower, before travelling up the 21-metre Tree of Trees, made up of 350 saplings, illuminating the sculpture which towered above the palace, watched by William.

As she walked from Windsor Castle’s Sovereign’s Entrance into the Quadrangle the Queen saw more than 100 people who live within the walls of the royal home and were invited to the event.

Peter McGowran, chief yeoman warder from the Tower of London, carefully placed the Commonwealth of Nations Globe on a stand that glowed purple.

The object – a globe of the world within a crown – has been kept at the tower for safety and other yeoman warders were in attendance.

After touching the symbol of the world, which sat on a cushion, the purple stand turned white and a river of purple lights spread across the Quadrangle and turned white in succession.

Pageant master Bruno Peake, who organised the beacons marking the Queen’s diamond and platinum jubilees, said more than 3,500 beacons would be lit around the globe, something the Queen commented on.

After speaking to the monarch he added: ‘She said, ‘More beacons, every time you do it you have more beacons’ – which is great.

‘To be able to stand next to your monarch commemorating a unique anniversary and moment in her life is such a privilege. It looked as though she didn’t want to leave.’

The Queen was wearing a new piece of jewellery for the event – a diamond brooch which was a gift commissioned by the Goldsmiths’ Company to mark her Platinum Jubilee.

The brooch was inspired by the four home nations which are represented by four diamond swirls and the national flowers – rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock.

It also includes a representation of the flowering plant lily of the valley, which was part of the Queen’s Coronation bouquet.

The palace beacon was one of more than 3,500 around the UK and the Commonwealth, including the Tower of London, Windsor Great Park, Hillsborough Castle, the Queen’s estates of Sandringham and Balmoral, and on top of the UK’s four highest peaks.

Flaming tributes were lit at towns and cities across Northern Ireland including at Titanic Belfast and St Columb’s Cathedral in Londonderry, while in Scotland, a beacon was set ablaze at Edinburgh Castle as a piper played.

The Duke of Cambridge described the start of the Queen’s historic Platinum Jubilee celebrations as ‘a big day’ and ‘pretty impressive’.

Speaking to Mike Bloomberg, sponsor of the Tree of Trees principal beacon, the duke said: ‘It was a big day today, It was pretty impressive. Did you see the flypast?’

A run of festooned lights laid on the ground outside the London residence lit up, followed by 3,500 lights on the 69ft tall living Tree of Trees sculpture, made up of 350 saplings.

William, speaking to designer Thomas Heatherwick, said of the creation: ‘It looks amazing.’

The living sculpture reflects the planting of more than a million trees as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) initiative to mark 70 years of her reign.

Mr Heatherwick said afterwards that the Queen was the first to notice the sculpture was as tall as three giraffes.

‘We talked about how his grandmother was really responsible for the initiative and how she had described it as being three giraffes high,’ Mr Heatherwick said.

‘It’s 70ft high and she said, ‘That’s three giraffes’. When it was two-thirds complete, she saw it and said, ‘That’s two giraffes’.’

William chatted with singer-songwriter Gregory Porter, who performed a specially composed song, A Life Lived With Grace, alongside the London Community Gospel Choir.

The duke told the US musician: ‘Your voice gets even more impressive every time I see you. It’s even more moving. It’s brilliant.’

William joked about where the sculpture should end up, saying: ‘Have you got any ideas where it should go next?’

Porter replied: ‘Hyde Park. One more tree,’ with William laughing and agreeing ‘One more tree’.

The duke wished Porter well, telling him: ‘Look after those vocal cords.’

After the Jubilee weekend, the saplings in their pots will be donated to community groups and individuals around the country.

As part of the ceremony, photos of the Queen from each of the decades of her reign were projected on to the front of the palace. 

They included one of her on horseback as she took the salute at Trooping the Colour in the 1980s.

Earlier in the day cheeky Prince Louis stole the show on the palace’s famous frontage as he covered his ears with his hands and let out a howl of excitement as a flypast roared overhead.

The four-year-old stood next to the Queen, known affectionately as ‘Gan Gan’ to the Cambridge children, as she leaned down to talk to her great-grandson, pointing out things of interest

Thousands of well-wishers packed on to The Mall in the June sunshine, erupting in cheers for the nation’s longest reigning monarch, with the smiling Queen delighted at the patriotic scenes.

The Queen made two appearances on the palace balcony.

She joined her cousin the Duke of Kent to take a salute of her soldiers returning from Trooping the Colour, after the Prince of Wales deputised for her on the parade ground.

Then she re-emerged, wearing sunglasses, to watch the six-minute flypast of more than 70 aircraft, including 15 RAF Typhoons in the formation of the number 70.

Dressed in a dusky dove blue Angela Kelly coat which she wore for her official Jubilee portrait, and matching hat, the Queen, who has mobility issues, was holding a walking stick and wearing the Guards’ Badge on her coat.

Eighteen royals including the head of state stepped out for the flypast, with Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Louis flanking the monarch.

The crowds had been treated to the sight of the Cambridge youngsters waving in their first carriage procession, joined by proud parent Kate and their step-grandmother Camilla.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were among the guests who watched Trooping the Colour at Horse Guards from inside the Duke of Wellington’s former office, overlooking the parade ground.

They stayed out of the limelight and joined more than 30 royals including Camilla and Kate and the Queen’s extended family including all of her grandchildren.

But there was no place for the Sussexes, who caused a crisis by quitting as senior royals, or the Queen’s disgraced second son the Duke of York on the palace balcony.

The Queen decided to limit it to working members of the family, her Cambridge great-grandchildren and two youngest grandchildren.

As the four days of celebrations continue, Andrew is to also miss Friday’s service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s after catching Covid.

On the balcony with the Queen were: the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, Princess Alexandra, the Duke of Kent, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Princess Royal, Charles and Camilla, the Cambridges, the Earl and Countess of Wessex and their children Viscount Severn and Lady Louise Windsor.