The Queen, along with the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, will welcome Donald Trump and other world leaders at Buckingham Palace this evening. The group are in the UK for a NATO summit, and will head to Downing Street for a dinner reception afterwards.

Why aren’t Meghan and Harry there?

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are taking some time out of the spotlight with their baby son Archie.

The family are thought to be in the US with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, and are expected to remain there until the new year.

Royal correspondent Omid Scobie told The HeirPod Podcast the Sussexes had spent Thanksgiving “celebrating with close family” on a “long-time trip to the US”.

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There was also speculation last week the couple might have been in Canada, after they added a maple leaf emoji to their Thanksgiving message on Instagram.

Mr Scobie said: “The Sussexes are away, they’re on their break right up until Christmas.

“They celebrated Thanksgiving privately with close family, which is lovely.”

He added: “It’s a long-time trip that they’re on, I think we are really going to see them away until Christmas as far as I’m aware, which is good for them.”

This marks their first Thanksgiving as a family of three, after they welcomed their son Archie Mountbatten Windsor in May.

This would also be the first time Meghan had taken her son back to her hometown in Los Angeles.

However, despite the couple keeping quiet on a low-profile break, some have criticised their decision to spend Christmas away from the UK.

A spokesman for the couple confirmed the “decision is in line with precedent set previously by other members of the Royal Family, and has the support of Her Majesty The Queen”, but some felt it insensitive not to spend it with Archie’s 93 year-old great-grandmother.

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Supporters of the Sussex’s have taken to social media to point out that couples often alternate which families they spend Christmas with.

Royal author and commentator Marlene Koenig told Express.co.uk: “A certain element of the press are going to find fault with everything they do.

“The Cambridges have spent Christmas twice since they’ve been married with the Middletons, so what is wrong with Meghan and Harry spending Christmas with her mother?”

She added: “The Queen seems to be all right with it so why should anyone criticise it?”

The couple’s decision comes after both revealed the struggles they’re facing with life in the spotlight.

The Duchess, who gave birth to their son Archie in May, said it was no longer enough for her to “just survive” life under such scrutiny, which she suggested had not been fair and was “internally really damaging”.

The Duke spoke of his own mental health setbacks, revealing the flashbulbs of cameras take him “straight back” to the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, as he described the childhood trauma as a “wound that festers”.

Another royal expert, Angela Levin, told Sky News of the Christmas decision: “It’s sort of been coming. If your wife feels that she’s existing and not living, she’s unhappy and you are going through a difficult patch as well.

“Perhaps one of the last things you want to do is go somewhere in the UK which is bleak and cold with a whole load of family.”

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