Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have finally visited the United Kingdom and met with the Queen and Prince Charles. This visit comes after the couple were heavily criticized for skipping Prince Philip’s Service of Thanksgiving, an event attend by the entire British royal family and much of the extended European royal family. Given all of Harry’s alleged concerns about security, this appears like a desperate bid to reverse some of the growing controversy and negative publicity surrounding him and Meghan before the upcoming Invictus Games.

When it came out that Prince Harry and Meghan finally made their way to Windsor Castle to visit the Queen and Prince Charles and Camilla on Thursday April 14, it was a bit of a surprise, even to those close to the royal family.

Daily Express royal reporter Richard Palmer wrote on Twitter: “In a visit that even senior aides didn’t know about, Harry and Meghan saw the Queen and Charles and Camilla at Windsor today. Aides had not been expecting they’d come to the UK. But as I reported on the Express Facebook Live show, sometimes the family keep things secret. 

“Palace officials didn’t think the Sussexes would come to the UK because it would undermine Harry’s legal case against Home Secretary Priti Patel and others. Harry claimed it was unsafe for them to come to the UK without police protection or access to intelligence.”

A spokesperson for the couple also confirmed the visit, stating: “We can confirm that they visited The Duke’s grandmother, as we previously said he hoped to do. They stopped by the UK on their way to The Hague to attend The Invictus Games.”

First, there’s no mention of Prince Charles, though Harry and Meghan did allegedly meet with him and Camilla. This makes it seem like his father is not important to him, which could be the case at this point.

This is rather interesting and telling.

First, there’s no mention of Prince Charles, though Harry and Meghan did allegedly meet with him and Camilla. This makes it seem like his father is not important to him, which could be the case at this point.

The second interesting thing is that he’s recalling the statement previously made about visiting the Queen as “he hoped to do” after skipping the Service of Thanksgiving for his grandfather, Prince Philip. While it’s good that he’s actually made good on his promise to visit, it feels more like a desperate PR stunt to avoid the negative publicity surrounding his decision not to attend with his family in the first place.

This seems likely as the couple were apparently spotted by crowds of church goers walking to Windsor Castle and gave an emphatic wave. It reeks of a feel-good PR move by Sunshine Sachs.

Perhaps the most telling thing about the statement is Harry and Meghan’s emphasis on the Queen, while disregarding the rest of the royal family especially his father and Prince William, who has been on a ski vacation. They wanted to make sure and see her, but no one else.

This is somewhat understandable, as the Queen is elderly and her health is clearly deteriorating—however, it’s also likely that Harry and Meghan have something they want from the aging monarch.

Is it a Windsor christening for Lilibet ‘Lili’ Diana? Is it a promise that their children will become a prince and princess when Prince Charles ascends the throne? Or is it an attempt to make sure that Harry has not been removed from the will?

Likely, it’s a combination of all three.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are desperate. Their popularity has plummeted and shows no signs of recovering at this point. The Invictus Games may help, or it may not. The couple are already being called out for profiting off of the backs of veterans for these Games, and it’s questionable whether or not it can continue given Harry and Meghan’s compromised motives.

They also look rather hypocritical, going back to the dreaded institution that allegedly caused them so much grief. But their in a sticky spot as the Queen is relatively bullet proof.

In Robert Hardman’s new book “Queen of Our Times,” the author explains how much former President Barack Obama enjoyed his time with the Queen and felt great affection towards her. As Harry and especially Meghan are desperate to get in with the Obama’s, they are reluctant to attack her, though it seems pretty clear that the Obama’s have no desire to connect with Harry and Meghan in their post-royal life anyways.

But this Invictus Games event and visiting the Queen is all about one thing: damage control. 

Their dream of being heavy hitters in Hollywood is mostly dead at this point, so they have to make the Invictus thing work while trying to reestablish their connection to royalty.

Without being royals, they are simply a man who barely graduated high school and a D-list actress while was nearing the end of her career when she landed a prince.

As the Sussexes, Harry and Meghan have proved themselves just too unlikeable as a couple. They are petty, arrogant, narcissistic and just plain toxic. Brands and people want to avoid too close an association with them, but unfortunately the Invictus Games can’t totally avoid it.

This next week is a true test for the couple, can Harry and Meghan reverse the negative flow of publicity or will they sink themselves yet again by being too tone deaf and self-obsessed to avoid stepping into self-imposed controversy.