Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's hand-holding lunch date at The Falkland Arms in the Cotswolds, their first public outing together since returning to the UK, sparked split interpretations: a body language expert claimed "disharmony," while a pub insider said the couple "just acted like locals." Commentators also questioned how the paparazzi photos came to be taken.
The couple were photographed last Thursday holding hands on a stroll to the 16th-century pub in Great Tew, Oxfordshire. Harry, 42, wore a Santa Barbara fire department baseball cap — a nod to the couple's former US home in Montecito, California — while Meghan, 45, wore black with white sneakers; both wore sunglasses. Inside, Meghan dined on a £18.25 portion of gluten-free beer-battered haddock and chips with mushy peas and tartare sauce, while Harry chose a £17.95 chicken, ham and leek pie with seasonal greens, creamy mashed potatoes and gravy.
A pub insider told the Sun the pair drew no different treatment from staff or fellow customers. "Everyone here gets the royal treatment — it doesn't matter who you are," the insider said. "We're lucky to get lots of different people visiting us, and everyone is treated like a local. When they visited, Harry and Meghan just acted like locals." The boozer, which retains flagstone floors and low beamed ceilings, sits round the corner from the Beckhams' Great Tew home.
The outing nevertheless drew forensic attention. A body language expert claimed to detect "disharmony" in the couple's demeanour, a reading that clashed with the pub's account and with photographs that showed the pair looking relaxed and affectionate. Commentators also questioned the photographs' provenance: the Sun published them as an exclusive, but observers noted the absence of a photo agency credit, fuelling speculation that the shoot may have been arranged or tipped off. Neither the couple nor the paper has commented on how the pictures came to be taken.
The lunch was the couple's first joint photographed appearance since returning to Britain in August, six years after stepping back as working royals. Their adjustment has been rocky: Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, lasted only two days at a $35,000-a-year prep school before security concerns about their travel forced them to leave, and the couple remain in an ongoing row over who should pay for armed police protection. Whether the pub date — described by those present as entirely normal — marks the start of a quieter British chapter remains to be seen.