Prince Harry To Make First Public Appearance After Royal Bombshell

Prince Harry is to make a public appearance Thursday as he hosts the 2021 Rugby League World Cup draw at Buckingham Palace.

The appearance will be his first since he and his wife Meghan Markle dropped the royal bombshell news of their decision to quit as full-time royals.

Harry is the patron of the Rugby Football League, the 13-player sport’s governing body in England, and his participation in the draw was long planned before the shock announcement last week.

The 16-team tournament is being hosted in England next year.

The sport’s three giants — New Zealand, Australia and England — will compete in the tournament along with Pacific islands and minnows such as Greece, Jamaica and the Cook Islands.

The 35-year-old Duke of Sussex will surely be the cynosure of all eyes on whether he will address the still-unresolved royal crisis as he hosts the rugby draw from 1200 GMT.

The prince was summoned on Monday to a family meeting with his grandmother, father Prince Charles and brother Prince William to thrash out a way forward. The final outcome is yet to be determined.

Harry and Markle’s controversial announcement was made on a flashy new website without agreeing their wish-list first with Queen Elizabeth II.