Their demeanour in Nottingham on Thursday was all triumphant poise and gloss.

As my colleague Jan Moir witnessed from the crowd, it was ‘as if they were greeting the honeyed crowds at the Hollywood Bowl instead of this desultory turnout on an industrial estate’.

But friends of Prince Harry and Meghan say that this small-scale return to public life with their first UK ‘walkabout’ since Megxit, has come with one stark realisation. ‘They know that some people have come to hate them, and that some people hate what they did,’ I’m told.

That is a huge concession from Team Sussex, and was shared with me yesterday as their supporters sought to explain the significance of the Nottingham engagements – and what the couple plan to do next.

I’m told the pair had feared the potential reactions of the crowd and were relieved to find a warm welcome, albeit from an admittedly small group. Of the 150 people or so gathered, around half were from the media.

Friends, though, say the Sussexes are not concerned with the people they call ‘haters’ – they know there will always be those who enjoy criticising them – rather how they are perceived by those who are less engaged with royal drama. They are determined to win these people over with ‘low key’ and ‘respectful’ public events.

I’m told Harry and Meghan had genuinely feared the potential reactions of the crowd and were relieved to find a warm welcome, albeit from a small group, writes ALISON BOSHOFF

The Sussexes are determined to win over people who are less engaged with royal drama with ‘low key’ and ‘respectful’ public events

Prince Harry is apparently ‘very pleased’ with how the day went and was involved in planning, right down to requesting his wife wear British designers to show her allegiance to the country they call home again.

‘That was a royal visit even if it wasn’t,’ says his pal. ‘They were delighted with the warm welcome. H is delighted.’

And I can reveal that there will be more outings to come – news to make their enemies at the Palace shudder. Words like ‘humble’ are also being used. That’s what the pair were apparently hoping to convey – despite Meghan’s £3,386 outfit – with their meetings with grassroots charities.

As for the idea that they may be treading on royal toes, that notion is swiftly, if not entirely convincingly, debunked.

A friend of Harry and Meghan tells me: ‘They are making efforts to re-enter slowly with humility and hope to win support that way. There is no intention to thumb a nose at the King or cause irritation.

‘This sort of work is what makes Harry happy, it is in his DNA. It is nothing to do with relations with the Royal Family.’

Harry is apparently ‘very pleased’ with how the day in Nottingham went and was involved in planning every aspect, which included visiting a charity tackling poverty and food insecurity

There will be more Harry-and-Meghan outings to come, which will make enemies at the Palace shudder

The fact that Prince Harry and Meghan chose to walk away from his life of service in 2020 and spent years trashing the institution (as racist) and their family (as uncaring) in books and on television, for money, and that he cast their arrival in California as a ‘Freedom Flight’, seems to have been scrubbed from his psyche.

So uplifted were Harry and Meghan by their engagements this week that their circle feels a line has been successfully crossed in terms of public approval. The welcome, it seems, was warm enough for Meghan to start house hunting in the UK in earnest.

While their team had previously briefed that Harry, Meghan and their children Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, left California in August to resettle in England for an unspecified amount of time, privately friends were told they intend to live in the UK until both children have finished school.

The intention is for Meghan to commute to the US during this period to keep her business going.

Until now the family have been staying in a house on the estate of a wealthy friend on the fringes of the Cotswolds. Friends confirm they are searching for a new home with lots of land, no public rights of way and nine bedrooms at least. Their budget is £10million.

A friend said this week: ‘I think we are going to see Meghan moving to look more actively at property soon. I know that they have an agent looking at what is available for them in terms of houses and he is sending everything which might suit to their team to look at virtually. I think it’s about to go up a notch.’

Words like ‘humble’ are also being used to describe the outing – despite Meghan’s £3,386 outfit

As for their public-facing endeavours, the friend adds: ‘They can achieve great support for charities and intend to do so. There will be more days like [Thursday] going forward.

‘People want the old Harry, the Harry who they loved. This was a successful event with no narrative other than supporting the organisations.

‘For security reasons it had the shape of a royal event but that is because, ultimately, that is who they are.’

The positivity expressed by pals runs counter to recent speculation the Sussexes might throw in the towel on this British adventure.

Why? Well, one of the reasons behind the move, to spend time with Harry’s father, King Charles, seems not to have happened. They don’t appear to have seen each other since taking tea back in July.

The King has been busy – with some reports suggesting he’s even too busy to take his son’s calls.

As the Daily Mail’s Royal Editor Rebecca English reported yesterday, there is ‘irritation’ over the quasi-royal engagement this week, which stole the King’s thunder as he and the Queen opened the Senedd in Wales on Thursday.

Another key aspect to the move was Harry’s quest for security provided by the Home Office. Harry has spent six years in fruitless litigation over his desire for security. It seems that his hopes of resolving the security problem have faded as the summer passed.

Friends this week suggest that Harry’s camp are bracing themselves for a yet another ‘no’.

I am told: ‘The liaison team is significant. It’s not just a question of having a phone number to ring any more. There is a bit of a protective bubble there for them now and a pattern has been established.

‘There is a liaison officer embedded with them and he can call on a team as and when he judges it is needed, so they do have more resources now in reality than before. It feels like a middle ground. It’s a support to them.’

That sounds as if his team accept that the status quo may be as good as they are going to get.

The Duke and Duchess travelled in a convoy of two Range Rovers with their own security while Nottinghamshire police provided support with one unmarked police car, one traffic police car and three community policemen on hand.

So the road to unpicking Megxit – as revealed here in July – is being travelled. And the perceived success of this week’s event is a significant staging-post on this journey. Everything looked as if the clock had been wound back.

The pair were even assisted by Clara Loughran, walking a few paces behind. She was the Sussexes’ senior programme coordinator in 2015.

After being let go during Megxit, she went on to set up her own consultancy. This week was the first time she’s been seen with the couple since.

As for their final desired destination, one could do worse than consider the words of a friend who spoke to Hello! Magazine this week, saying that the couple do not consider themselves bound by the Sandringham agreement, the settlement the late Queen hammered out in January 2020, which denied their request to be ‘half-in, half-out’ royals.

The magazine’s royal editor Emily Nash was told: ‘They never agreed they wouldn’t be half in half out. That was what was decided and foisted upon them. They’re just living their lives and they can, because they’re financially independent.’

Now Harry is insisting that he is royal, that can never be changed, and that he will undertake charity work as and whenever he wants because ‘that is who he is’.

If it makes it look as if he’s a working royal, the Sussex logic goes, that is someone else’s problem.

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• I got within inches of Meghan and Harry on their very cringe day on a glamour-free estate in Nottingham… and it was so revealing to me: JAN MOIR