Harry and Meghan to attend Royal Variety Performance

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are to attend this year’s Royal Variety Performance.

It will be pregnant Meghan’s first outing at the annual star-studded gala as she takes her place in the royal box next to husband Harry.

The couple will watch Take That and the cast of hit musical Hamilton as performers take to the stage of the London Palladium on Monday November 19.

The event is held in aid of the Royal Variety Charity, of which the Queen is patron.

Chart-toppers George Ezra and Rick Astley will also perform, while comedian and Taskmasters star Greg Davies has been confirmed as the host.

Harry attended his first Royal Variety Performance at the Royal Albert Hall in 2015.

Comics at the show often take the opportunity to make jokes at the expense of any attending royals – and there is not likely to be any exception for the  duke and duchess.

Whitehall added: “He may only be a prince, but when it comes to banter, all hail the king.”

A second royal show was performed in July 1919 and billed as a celebration of peace.

It became an annual event at the suggestion of George V in 1921, when the King decreed that “the monarch or a senior member of the royal family, would attend an annual performance, in aid of Brinsworth House and the Royal Variety Charity, once a year thereafter”.

Laurie Mansfield, life-president of the Royal Variety Charity, welcomed the duke and duchess’s support.

“The Royal Variety Charity was so pleased that Prince Harry was able to attend his first Royal Variety Performance back in 2015, and that now in their wedding year, both the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are attending,” he said.

“It will be a very memorable Royal Variety Performance.”

The show helps raise money for entertainers throughout the UK, who are in need of help and assistance as a result of old age, ill-health, or hard times.

It also supports Brinsworth House, the home in Twickenham which is owned and run by the charity.