Prince Harry attends 1st official engagement in UK on same day as Prince William, King Charles events
Prince Harry attended his first official engagement Thursday since moving back to the United Kingdom, the same day his father, King Charles III, and his brother, Prince William, also held engagements.
The busy day marks a new reality for Britain's royal family as they continue on with their official royal engagements, while Harry builds his own calendar as a non-working member of the royal family.
Harry, dressed in a tuxedo bedecked with military medals, waved to photographers and posed with members of the Irish Guards as he arrived at the Royal Naval College in London for the Invictus Spirit Awards.
"It’s good to be back on British soil,” he told reporters at the event, a celebration of the Invictus Games, the Paralympic-style competition for wounded veterans that Harry, a veteran, founded over a decade ago.
The event was Harry's first public appearance since he and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, moved back to the U.K. last month with their two children, Archie and Lilibet.
The family spent the past six years living in California after Harry and Meghan stepped away from their senior royal roles in 2020.
Earlier in the day Thursday, Harry's father, King Charles III, delivered a speech on artificial intelligence at a conference in Scotland. The same day, also in Scotland, William stepped out with his wife Kate, the Princess of Wales, for a royal visit to the Isle of Bute.
Neither William nor Charles has commented publicly on Harry and Meghan's return to the U.K.
Harry's relations with some of his royal family members, particularly William, have been strained in the years since his departure from the U.K.
The only statement the royal family has given on the Sussexes' return is a letter released on Sept. 8 under the direction of King Charles, advising that Harry and Meghan will remain "private citizens" and will not be working royals while living in the U.K.
Harry and Meghan were "surprised" by the letter, their spokesperson told ABC News at the time. The couple has not commented further.
When Harry and Meghan stepped away from their senior royal roles in 2020, it was agreed that they would no longer use their royal highness titles, would no longer represent the monarchy and would no longer receive public funds for royal duties, freeing them to earn money on their own.
In the years following, Harry and Meghan continued to attend public engagements on their own, though not in a royal capacity.
In addition to Thursday night's Invictus event, Harry is expected to attend and speak next week at the WellChild Awards, an event in London for seriously ill children that both he and Meghan have attended on multiple occasions previously.
From there, Harry is scheduled to participate in the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting, set to be held Sept. 22-23 in New York.
It's not publicly known where the Sussexes are living in the U.K. The family plans to stay for an "extended period of time" in the U.K., where Archie and Lilibet will attend school, according to a source familiar with the matter.
