Harry and Meghan Visit Nottingham as Private Citizens, With an Itinerary Published to the Minute

THE FOREIGN DESK (BASEMENT) — I write to you from the front. The front, as loyal readers know, is the vending machine, and on Thursday it was the nearest this newspaper could get to Nottingham, a city in the East Midlands of England, which I shall refer to throughout as that region.

There, Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, made their first joint engagement since returning to live in Britain in August, according to the BBC. Crowds cheered. I cheered as well, quietly, so as not to alarm the pigeon.

It must be stressed that the couple are private citizens. A letter sent on the King’s instruction said they should be viewed as “private citizens” now that they live in the UK, the BBC reported. The BBC also described Thursday’s visit as “royal-style.” The difference between royal and royal-style was debated on several channels for most of the morning. As best I can tell from the basement, it is the difference between a cathedral and a building shaped exactly like a cathedral with a bishop standing in it.

What I can report is that no private citizen in the long history of that region has had their day published in advance, to the minute. According to the West Bridgford Wire, a local news site, the couple were due at the Community Recording Studio on Lowdham Street in St Ann’s from 10:25 a.m. to 11:55 a.m. They were then due at Himmah, a food charity in Hyson Green, from 12:20 p.m. to 2:05 p.m., and at Epic Partners in Sneinton at 2:25 p.m., finishing at 3:15 p.m.

I have been a private citizen for 58 years. Nobody has ever published my lunch. I take it at 12:20 p.m., as it happens, from the vending machine, and it ends when the crisps do.

The schedule was a gift to the royal-watching profession, which assembled in strength. Within the hour, correspondents had established the color of the Duchess’s coat (burgundy, according to NBC News) and the nationality of everything else she wore (British, head to toe, according to People). NBC reported selfies, hugs and handshakes with the crowd. Gerald Thistlewood, a royal watcher I have followed for 30 years from the same armchair, counted the handshakes on a clicker and revised his total upward four times before 11 a.m.

At the studio, the Duchess was expected to join a bracelet-making session with a group of girls about confidence and self-belief, and the couple were to watch an acting workshop, the Wire reported. At Himmah, whose kitchen served more than 15,000 meals in 2024-25, they were expected to help cook and then share a meal.

Royal watchers received this news with the intensity of admirals decoding a signal flag. “The bead pattern is a statement,” Thistlewood told me. “I simply do not yet know what it says.” The girls who made the bracelets were understood to regard them as bracelets.

Nottingham, it should be noted, is where the couple made their first joint appearance after announcing their engagement in 2017, greeting crowds in the city’s Lace Market before a World AIDS Day charity fair. Commentators accordingly called Thursday “a full circle moment.” I wrote the phrase down eleven times before lunch and then stopped, because the pencil was needed for the crisps.

For readers unfamiliar with that region, it is home to Sherwood Forest, Robin Hood and, as of Thursday morning, more camera crews per charity than any city in England. I have never been. My passport remains unstamped. I learned on Thursday that this is also true of anyone who takes the train to Nottingham from London, since no passport is required, and I have chosen to treat this as a hardship.

My rival, the pigeon on the basement window ledge, filed first, as usual. He arrived on the ledge at 10:25 a.m. sharp and left at 11:55 a.m. I have asked who sent him the itinerary. He has not answered.

The private citizens were scheduled to finish at 3:15 p.m. At 3:16 p.m., Thistlewood began his analysis of the day, which he expects to complete by Christmas. I shall continue to file from the front. The vending machine is out of crisps.