Harry and Meghan’s ‘immense’ Colombia security revealed – royal news live

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have spoken to schoolchildren in Spanish as their four-day tour of Colombia continues.

Harry and Meghan took part in an art session and planted trees during a visit to a school in the capital, Bogota.

At the Colegio La Giralda, the couple’s arrival was celebrated with performances from students who wore traditional Colombian dress and performed cumbia songs with live percussion.

While visiting a nursery class, Meghan told a student in Spanish: “You’re the same age as my son Archie.”

Harry also practised his Spanish, asking students their names and ages before the children performed a song and gave the couple gifts.

However, it is unlikely that the couple, who are currently touring Colombia, would have accepted an invitation after Harry recently said the UK was too dangerous for Meghan to visit.

A source told The Express: “Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not be joining the rest of the Royal Family. “The King is keen for it to be a happy family occasion which will see members of the family come together for just over a week to discuss plans for the future and to unwind.”

The Duke of York, 64, will join his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, daughters Princess Eugenie and Beatrice and the wider royal family on their summer break at Balmoral.

“Andrew has hardly left Royal Lodge since Christmas so he’s very much looking forward to getting away with the rest of the family at Balmoral,” a source told The Express.

“He’s turned into a bit of a recluse, so the girls are hoping that some nice family time with [his grandchildren] will help cheer him up a bit and bring him out of his shell.”

Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond told OK! magazine: “So far it has all the hallmarks of a quasi-royal tour… An official welcome from the VP (a slight downgrade on a presidential welcome), a cultural event to follow… And then the serious business of the discussions about online dangers for children.

“It’s all too easy to poke fun at them for doing this semi-royal stuff after they fled the life of working royals in the UK, but they are making us talk about the dangers of the internet to our children and looking for solutions. And that has to be applauded.”

The expert added: “We don’t have to publicise what they do or say…. But the fact is they are still making headlines and – for the most part – they are using their platform to improve the lives of others.”

The Duchess of Sussex showcased “a clever nod to her royal roots” with her choice of outfit and makeup on the first day of her and Prince Harry’s Colombia tour.

Makeup artist Laura Kay told FEMAIL: “Meghan Markle’s latest look marks a distinctive evolution from her Hollywood glam days that she used to love to a more refined, royal aesthetic.

“Yesterday, at Centro Nacional de las Artes Delia Zapata, she appeared to be embracing a more sophisticated, mature, and elegant vibe.

“What first catches the eye is her shift to fresh, peachy, and pink tones, giving her complexion a regal feel. It’s a noticeable move from her past bronzed and dewy, Kardashian-inspired look – also perhaps a clever nod or reminder of her royal roots.”

Prince Harry appears to have sent a thinly veiled insult to Elon Musk in the wake of the recent UK riots.

While discussing the impact of online misinformation in Colombia, the Duke of Sussex said “those with positions of influence” need to take more responsibility for what they say online.

“What happens online within a matter of minutes transfers to the streets. People are acting on information that isn’t true,” the duke said.

When asked by The Hollywood Reporter if he stands by his decision to end the timeline at King Charles’s 2005 wedding to Queen Camilla, he said: “I cannot imagine any circumstances in which I’d want to go further into the present, as it were, but at the same time, I don’t think I’m done with the subject.

“I might find some way of coming into it from a different way. If you go back in time, you always have that wonderful opportunity for metaphor.

“You can find a story in the past and tell that, and it [will] actually be a story about the present, but in camouflage. And that, I think, might be a more elegant way forward.

“To move forward from where I left the show off at the moment feels too soon.”

An insider said this would have likely allowed him to see his father, King Charles, who he last saw in February following the announcement of his cancer diagnosis.

A source told The Times: “I don’t know what more the King could have done. He offered Harry to stay at Buckingham Palace but it seems even that wasn’t good enough.

“It was far from clear what the duke’s plans were. When it came to it there was no space in the King’s diary in between treatment and other scheduled events.”

“It makes Harry’s decision to stay in a hotel all the more strange when the Palace would naturally offer all the security you could wish for.”

This will undoubtedly be of huge personal significance for Harry, 39, as it is the only participating team from Latin America.

The sporting event, founded in 2014, celebrates the abilities of wounded, sick and injured service people.

“With the Archewell Foundation, me and my wife believe that information integrity is a fundamental right,” Prince Harry said.

“We should model how we want our kids to be raised and for the world in which we raise them,” Meghan added. “It doesn’t matter where you live. It doesn’t matter who you are. Either you personally or someone you know is a victim to what’s happening online. And that’s something we can actively work on every day to remedy.”

The couple’s statement comes after they recently expressed their concerns for Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet as they grow up in the digital world.

It also comes after Prince Harry recently said he will not bring Meghan to the UK because he fears “a knife or acid attack” inspired by negative tabloid stories.