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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Kelly-Ann Mills & Zoe Forsey

King Charles' sweet gesture to Meghan Markle after UK visit praised by royal watchers

After almost two and a half years away, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped back into the spotlight to join the royal family at the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

It was the first time Meghan saw her in-laws since they left in the winter of 2019, and there was much speculations about tensions behind Palace walls during their reunion meetings.

Despite the excitement about their visit, the couple weren't involved in the majority of the events organised to celebrate the late Monarch's 70 years on the throne.

While the royals made two appearances on the Buckingham Palace balcony during the four-day celebration, the Sussex family weren't invited to join on either occasion. In fact, the only official event they were part of was a Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey, which the Queen wasn't able to attend for health reasons.

Meghan and Harry joined the rest of the royal family at Westminster Abbey (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

However they made the most of the celebrations behind the scenes, joining the family for a private area viewing of Trooping the Colour and throwing Lilibet a birthday party at their former Frogmore Cottage home.

But despite rumours of strained relations for the seen, Charles made a touching gesture via his Instagram page. He decided to include a photo of the couple in his round up of pictures from the long weekend, to the delight of royal fans.

The Clarence House page, which was Charles and Camilla's official social media page before they took over the Royal Family accounts when they became King and Queen, posted: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for 70 years of unwavering and dedicated service.

They were seated on the opposite side the aisle from Kate and William (Getty Images)

"The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, along with other members of the Royal Family, attended a Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral for The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

"Over 400 people were invited to attend in recognition of their contribution to public life at both a community and national level.

"Drawn from all four nations of the United Kingdom, this included NHS and key workers, teaching staff and representatives from the Armed Forces, charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups."

The first of the nine images was of Prince Charles and Camilla leaving the service, the second was an overhead shot of the couple following Prince William and his wife Kate along the nave of the church.

The rest of the royal family appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony for Trooping the Colour (Getty Images)

The third image showed Princess Anne, along with William and Kate singing during one of the hymns, and the fourth is of Prince Edward and his wife Sophie smiling, while the fifth was taken from high up in the church and showed all those who attended.

The sixth was taken at the doors of the cathedral, at the top of the steps and included the Queen's granddaughter, Lady Louise Windsor, but it was the seventh that was seen as the most meaningful.

It shows Prince Harry, with his service medals pinned to his suit, stood between his wife Meghan and his cousin Zara Tindall.

Meghan is turned towards Harry and is smiling broadly, while Harry looks a little more serious.

Royal fans were delighted to see the Sussexes (Getty Images)
They smiled and waved to well-wishers are they exited the abbey (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The last two images shows Prince Andrew's daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and the other is a wider shot showing the royal family sat at the front of the service. Prince Andrew missed the Jubilee celebrations after testing positive for Covid.

The gesture to include son Harry and his wife Meghan was seen as significant by royal watchers, after months of tension between the prince and his father.

Meghan and Harry saw Charles earlier in the year when they made a secret visit to the UK. They also met the Queen, promising her they would return and bring their daughter Lilibet to met her.

Harry has spoken about tensions with his family in several interviews, but he shared the most shocking details during his tell-all chat with Oprah Winfrey.

During the bombshell interview, Harry accused his dad of cutting him off financially and claimed he had stopped taking his calls.

"My family literally cut me off financially," Harry said in March.

"I've got what my mum left me, and without that, we would not have been able to do this. I think she saw it coming," Harry said, adding that it was the inspiration behind Harry and Meghan seeking to land a Netflix deal.

Harry also said he felt "really let down" by his father, saying: "He knows what pain feels like.

"Of course I will always love him but there's a lot of hurt that's happened and I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that."

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