Meghan Markle and Prince Harry to 'take baby Archie to visit the Queen in Balmoral this summer'

While Prince Harry and Meghan Markle carried out their final engagements as senior royals earlier this month, baby Archie remained in Canada due to coronavirus fears.

However, it has now been reported that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will bring their ten-month-old son to visit the Queen in Balmoral this summer.

According to The Sunday Times, the couple have accepted the 93-year-old monarch’s invitation to stay at her Scottish residence so she can see her youngest great-grandchild.

During the same trip, Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, are expected to spend time with Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall at Birkhall, at their retreat on the same estate.

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It has also been suggested that Archie - who turns one in May - may return with his parents to the UK for Trooping The Colour in June.

Last September, Her Majesty was understood to be “disappointed” by her grandson’s decision along with his wife to not visit Balmoral with their son who they felt was too young to travel.

Earlier that summer, the then four-month-old had been taken to Ibiza, and to stay with Elton John in the south of France.

The Queen usually invites close members of the royal family to stay on her Scottish estate each year during the two months she is in residence with Prince Philip.

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It is unclear whether Prince William and Kate Middleton - and their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis - will be visiting at the same time as the Sussexes.

So far in 2020, Archie has remained on Vancouver Island in Canada, where the Sussexes spent Christmas and New Year.

In the absence of his parents, he has been looked after by a nanny and Meghan’s best friend Jessica Mulroney.

It has also been claimed that his great-grandmother and the wider royal family were left “very sad” when he did not travel with his parents to the UK recently.

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However, Meghan explained during her penultimate engagement as a working royal - where she met scholars from the Association of Commonwealth Universities at Buckingham Palace - that it was for health reasons.

According to journalist Bryony Gordon, writing in The Daily Telegraph, the duchess spoke about “how to prevent the spread of coronavirus throughout the globe”.

The former actress added: “The decision to leave Archie behind in Canada came not out of petty spite, as reported in some areas, but out of concern for his health during the threat of a global pandemic.”

When the virus was called a pandemic on Wednesday evening, she was back with her son in Canada, with Harry joining shortly afterwards.