The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, braved the freezing temperatures and snow which had hit southern England overnight to greet fans, including a group of nursery children, in Bristol, U.K.
It was only confirmed this morning that Harry and Meghan would be able to keep their day-long visit to the southwest of England after heavy snow blanketed much of southern England overnight. But contingency plans were in place, and despite the disruption to public transport, the royal couple has managed to make the journey from London to Bristol this morning, according to the Daily Mail .
Their first engagement of the day was at the famous Bristol Old Vic Theater, which is the oldest theater in the English-speaking world and can trace its history back to 1766. They will have a guided tour of the newly-renovated theater and also learn more about its engagement with the local community.
Theatre is something very close to Meghan’s heart, given her former career as an actor. She had also recently been named as the new patron of the National Theater in London, taking that role over from Queen Elizabeth herself. But before they headed into the theater, pregnant Meghan and her husband still found time to greet some of the many hundreds of local people who had come out in the cold and the snow to catch a glimpse of them.
Daily Mail reporter Rebecca English noted on Twitter that the royal couple spent quite a long time talking to a group of very young nursery school children who were wrapped up warm against the cold.
The children, who were from Abbeywood Tots Nursery, were approached by Meghan first, but she swiftly beckoned her husband Harry over to join her. They both joked with the children about the weather, with Harry being overheard asking them, “Are you nice and warm in here?” before joking that because they were all wearing their snowsuits, the children “can run anywhere [they] want!”
Harry and Meghan spent a long time chatting to the nursery children in Bristol pic.twitter.com/pgj61xbvxK
— Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) February 1, 2019
Meghan apologized to another person in the crowd about her cold hand as they shook hands, while she told another fan that they had been delayed in their journey there.
“[The train] was a few minutes late but we tried our best to get down here fast.”
Meghan was wearing a William Vintage woolly coat to shield herself from the cold over the top of a printed $1,800 (£1,400) Oscar de la Renta dress. She added some color to her dark ensemble with $690 (£530) Sarah Flint “Marina” suede olive knee-high boots. Unlike yesterday, when she had her hair up in a bun during a royal engagement, today she wore it down with soft curls.