Prince Harry Revealed the Two Words Meghan Markle Prayed for at Princess Diana’s Grave at Althorp
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are expected to bring their family to the U.K. for the first time in four years, and they may visit Princess Diana’s burial site
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle; Althorp.Credit :
Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty; David Goddard/Getty
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are expected to bring their family to the U.K. next month, where they may make a poignant visit to his mother Princess Diana’s burial site.
Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, are believed to be accompanying their parents on a trip to Harry’s home country in the coming weeks, as the Duke of Sussex supports the one-year countdown events to the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham. The visit would mark the first time Meghan, 44, and the children have returned to the U.K. since 2022.
Althorp House, Princess Diana’s family’s estate and where she is buried, is closed to visitors on July 10 and 11, prompting speculation that Prince Harry and his family could visit or even stay there. The Duke of Sussex has previously stayed at Althorp — which is owned by Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer — during visits to the U.K., including in August 2024 when he returned for the funeral of his uncle Lord Robert Fellowes.
Diana, who died at age 36 following a 1997 Paris car crash, was laid to rest at the Spencer family’s ancestral home in Northamptonshire, England. She is buried on an island at the center of the ornamental lake known as The Round Oval within Althorp Park’s Pleasure Garden, and her gravesite is off-limits to the public.
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While it’s not believed that Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet have ever visited their late grandmother’s burial site, Prince Harry recalled bringing Meghan there in his memoir, Spare.
Recalling the visit in 2022, Prince Harry wrote that after his uncle gave them a “little shove” through some mud, they rowed out on a boat to the island.
“No visit to this place was ever easy, but this one… twenty-fifth anniversary,” Prince Harry wrote. “And Meg’s first time. At long last, I was bringing the girl of my dreams home to meet mum.”
“We hesitated, hugging, and then I went first. I placed flowers on the grave. Meg gave me a moment, and I spoke to my mother in my head, told her I missed her, asked her for guidance and clarity,” he continued. “Feeling that Meg might also want a moment, I went around the hedge, scanned the pond. When I came back, Meg was kneeling, eyes shut, palms against the stone.”
“I asked, as we walked back to the boat, what she’d prayed for,” Prince Harry added. “Clarity, she said. And guidance.”
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While it’s unclear where Prince Harry, Meghan and their children would stay during a potential U.K. visit next month, PEOPLE understands that King Charles, 77, offered Prince Harry and his family accommodation on a royal estate. However, no response has been received to the offer yet. Previously, the King offered his younger son accommodation at Buckingham Palace, which he declined.
Even if Harry and his family were to stay on a royal estate, no additional security arrangements have been offered. Decisions about protective security are made by the Home Office, not the monarch.
After the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back from their royal roles in 2020, they lost their taxpayer-funded police protection — a decision Prince Harry has challenged in court, citing safety concerns for his family in the U.K.
“The U.K. is my home. The U.K. is central to the heritage of my children and a place I want them to feel at home as much as where they live at the moment in the United States,” Prince Harry said. “That cannot happen if there is no possibility to keep them safe when they are on U.K. soil.”
While Prince Harry has returned to the U.K. solo on numerous occasions in recent years, the couple has returned to the U.K. only once with their children, when they attended Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee festivities in June 2022. Archie and Lilibet did not take part in any public events, but the family celebrated Lilibet’s first birthday with a backyard party at Frogmore Cottage, their former U.K. home.
Meghan was also visiting the U.K. later in 2022 for a series of charity events with Prince Harry when Queen Elizabeth died. The pair extended their stay to attend her funeral and the surrounding events.
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There has been no confirmation of plans for a reunion between Prince Harry and his father during the potential visit. They last met in September 2025 during Harry’s visit to the U.K. for a series of charity events, and the private 55-minute meeting marked their first face-to-face conversation in 19 months.
Prince Harry previously told the BBC that he would “love reconciliation” with his family amid their ongoing rift.
“There’s no point continuing to fight anymore; life is precious. I don’t know how much longer my father has,” he continued, appearing to reference the King’s 2024 cancer diagnosis. “He won’t speak to me because of this security stuff, but it would be nice to reconcile.”
