Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Made a “Mega Secret” Detour to This European Country After the Invictus Games

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk side by side

(Image credit: Getty)

published 30 September 2023

In between leaving Dusseldorf, Germany and the Invictus Games and arriving back home in the U.S., reports are surfacing that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stopped off for a romantic getaway in Portugal, where Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie, her husband Jack Brooksbank, and their two sons live part of the time. (Per People, despite drama with other family members, Harry and Eugenie are “still the best of friends and talk constantly.”)

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in love at the Invictus Games 2023

Portuguese magazine Nova Gente reported that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex traveled to the village of Melides, close to Lisbon, and that Eugenie invited the couple to visit; the magazine said the couple’s children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, didn’t join them (not surprising, since they weren’t with them in Dusseldorf), and that the visit was a “mega secret” operation, calling the visit “a lightning trip,” per The Mirror.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the 2023 Invictus Games

It's not clear exactly when Harry and Meghan arrived in Portugal, but we know the Invictus Games ended on Saturday, September 16. Per The Daily Express, Nova Gente reports that Harry and Meghan “stayed in our country until September 20. That morning they left for London from Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport on a British Airways flight. Accompanied by two bodyguards, they were the last to board BA flight 501 at 11 a.m. bound for London Heathrow Airport. The couple reached the plane in a white van carrying just them and their bodyguards.” The magazine said that as Harry and Meghan boarded the flight, they were “smiling slightly,” and that Meghan had her hair tied up in a long ponytail and was dressed in all black. After arriving in London, they continued on to Los Angeles “without leaving the airport [Heathrow],” The Daily Express reports.

TOPICS

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.