Meghan shares her self-doubt with young audienceon September 5, 2022 at 8:56 pm

Although constantly resident on the front pages of UK newspapers, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be appearing in person in the UK for the first time since the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

The duchess will be speaking at the One Young World summit in Manchester later on Monday.

It will be her first address in the UK since finishing as a “working royal”.

The visit follows a strong reaction to a Meghan interview last week which re-opened claims of family tensions.

The Sussexes are reported to have caught the train from London to Manchester for the youth summit, where Meghan is to give the opening address.

It’s not known whether the duke and duchess will meet other members of the Royal Family this week, including the Queen, who is in Balmoral and due to hold an audience on Tuesday with the new prime minister.

But sources say an open invitation remains for a meeting with Prince Charles, although not one specifically issued for this week.

There is no confirmation about whether Prince Harry and Meghan will meet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – with both couples near each other on the Windsor estate.

But there will be a trip to Germany to support plans for next year’s Invictus Games for injured veterans and they will make an appearance at the WellChild Awards, celebrating the achievements of seriously-ill children, which will be held in London on Thursday.

The visit to the UK follows a blizzard of publicity surrounding Meghan’s US interview with New York magazine The Cut and the first episodes of her Spotify podcast series.

Prince Harry has also been involved in a legal wrangle over the level of security provided to him and his family when visiting the UK. The prospect of a tell-all memoir from the prince also hovers in the background.

Meghan’s magazine interview, conducted in the sunshine of her Californian mansion, strongly divided opinion – with her supporters seeing it as a further account of why she needed to escape the pressures of life within the Royal Family.

She said she upset the “dynamic of the hierarchy” of the Royal Family “just by existing” – and suggesting unresolved disputes she said it “takes a lot of effort to forgive”.

But her vociferous critics accused her of “delusion”, seizing on quotes such as Meghan recounting being told that her marriage to Harry was greeted in South Africa with rejoicing the same as “when Mandela was freed from prison”.

There were also accusations that having left their lives as working royals, they were still relying on that connection to promote their new careers and media ventures in the US.

The duchess will now speak directly to a UK audience, at the One Young World event that that will bring together 2,000 young leaders from more than 190 countries.

Delegates can pay more than £3,000 for the event and take part in workshops, networking and to hear advice about “social impact” from business, political and humanitarian figures.

Meghan, a counsellor for the organisation, will meet a group of delegates doing “outstanding work on gender equality”, said a One Young World spokesperson.

This will be the couple’s first visit to the UK since the Platinum Jubilee, when they attended events including a service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral.

But despite high levels of public interest that had been a low-key trip, with them staying out of the limelight for what was a celebration of the life of the Queen.

Their latest trip to the UK is against the background of further concerns about the health of the 96-year-old monarch.

The Queen has had to pull out of attending events such as the Braemar highland games and for the first time in her reign she has switched the location of the audience with a new prime minister, which will now be in Balmoral rather than Buckingham Palace.

Three years ago when she appointed Boris Johnson, a photo of Prince Harry and Meghan was visible behind the Queen’s handshake with her new PM. Much has changed for all of them since then.