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Queen Elizabeth reportedly got the chance to meet her youngest great-grandchild! Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, spent some quality time with her great-grandmother at Windsor Castle on Friday night, according to Page Six. The meeting took place just one day before Lilibet will be celebrating her first birthday on Saturday, June 4. The meeting occurred the same day as the Service of Thanksgiving for the Queen on Friday, which Queen Elizabeth didn’t go to, because she felt “discomfort” during the Trooping the Colour event on Thursday. It’s not clear whether the meeting took place before or after the service.
“Of course, we know the Queen went back to Windsor Castle yesterday, the couple went back to Windsor as well where they’re staying at Frogmore Cottage. So that would have been the first moment or the first chance for her to meet her namesake,” Omid said on BBC Breakfast on June 3.
Lilibet arrived in the UK with her parents, Meghan Markle, 40, and Prince Harry, 37, and her brother, Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor, 3, for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, which celebrates her 70th year as the reigning Queen of England. It is the first time the entire family has left the United States and visited their family across the pond in Britain as an entire unit.
This also makes it exciting for Kate Middleton, 40, and Prince William, 39, and their three children, Prince George, 8, Princess Charlotte, 8, Prince Louis, 4, because it marks the first time being together with both kids. Although the whole family is there, the jubilee celebrations look quite different than years past.
Usually, the Queen travels across the United Kingdom to meet with the people of the Commonwealth in the days leading up to the jubilee celebrations. However, Queen Elizabeth, who is 96, has begun to lighten her load, especially after the 2020 death of her husband, Prince Philip. Instead, William and Kate had been given the duty of visiting Wales, per People. Princess Anne, 71, Queen Elizabeth’s only daughter, went to Scotland, and Prince Edward, 58, and Sophie, The Countess of Wessex, 57, traveled to Northern Ireland.
Furthermore, one of the most exciting parts for Brits is seeing the royal family stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in unity. Harry, Meghan, and the scandal-plagued Prince Andrew were not present because the Queen decided only working members of the family would be invited to stand on the balcony for the traditional flypast. “After careful consideration, the Queen has decided this year’s traditional trooping the color balcony appearance on Thursday 2 June will be limited to Her Majesty and those members of the royal family who are currently undertaking official public duties on behalf of the Queen,” a palace source told The Guardian in May.
Regardless, a source close to the royals EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife that Meghan and Harry were “cautiously excited” to join their family for the celebrations. “They know all eyes will be on them, which is always stressful but at the same time it’s going to be a chance for them to show the world that they’re still very much a part of the family,” the source revealed. “The whole hoopla about them not being on the balcony was way off the mark, they’re very pleased to be able to step back from that. The last thing they want to do is take away attention from The Queen, they’re going to honor her and celebrate her.”