Lilibet Diana set to spend first birthday with the royal family as Harry and Meghan plan to return to UK

Baby Lilibet could be set to spend her first birthday with the royal family, with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reportedly planning to return to the UK to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee this summer. 

• The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are said to be making plans to travel to the UK for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee weekend, which falls on the same date as baby Lilibet's first birthday.
• This means it's likely that Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet will be with Harry's side of the family as they mark the big milestone.
• In other royal news (opens in new tab), another royal family member is set to get married after sharing news of her engagement (opens in new tab).

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are rumoured to be 'keeping their diaries free' to return to the UK (opens in new tab) for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Baby Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor (opens in new tab) was born on 4 June 2021 at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, with her name giving a sweet nod to the Queen's childhood nickname, as well as Prince Harry's late mum.

Coincidentally, the Queen's extravagant Platinum Party at Buckingham Palace will take place on Saturday, June 4th this year.

The Queen invited the couple to her Jubilee Celebrations in an effort to 'extend an olive branch' (opens in new tab) following months of family strain, stemming from Harry and Meghan's decision to step back from their royal roles and move to California in 2020.

The Queen's birthday parade, Trooping the Colour, will be held on Thursday, June 2nd, and members of the royal family will all be in attendance.

On Friday 3 June, there will also be a Thanksgiving ceremony at St Paul's Cathedral, and on Sunday 5 June, the final day of the bank holiday (opens in new tab) break, people from all over the country will be encouraged to unite for the Big Jubilee Lunch.

With royal insiders revealing that Harry and Meghan have cleared their calendars to make sure they can fly to the UK for the Queen's momentous weekend, it's unknown if celebrations for Lilibet's first birthday will be involved in the Buckingham Palace party on June 4th. Perhaps the Sussex family will break away from the weekend of celebrations to privately mark Lili's day as a family of four.

Royal experts have also pointed out that Harry and Meghan's attendance across the Jubilee weekend could take shine from the Queen herself.

Neil Simon said,"What I’m suspecting is there will be some kind of banquet, perhaps low-key, that they possibly could get invited to.

"You can only imagine what on earth they could possibly offer. I don’t mean that in a cruel way but you know it’s going to be very difficult for Her Majesty the Queen and of course, His Royal Highness Prince Charles and Princess Anne.

"That would take away a lot of focus away from the Queen,” he continued, before confirming, “What we do know, however, is that their diaries are remaining free."