Prince Harry and Meghan Markle threw themselves into their royal duties Wednesday, attending a special performance of the hit musical Hamilton in London, with the prince briefly treading the boards himself.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex joined Hamilton creator Lin Manuel-Miranda at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London for a charity performance of the Alexander Hamilton biographical. After the show, Harry took to the stage to address the audience and cast members, the BBC reported.
One of the characters in the show is British King George III. While speaking to the audience after the show, Harry began to sing one of George III's songs—"You'll Be Back"—in which the monarch warns colonial rebels they will regret their uprising and "remember you belong to me." The prince quickly stopped, assuring attendees, "That's definitely not going to happen."
According to Sky News, Miranda spoke to reporters ahead of the performance, noting, "The prince's sixth-great-grandfather is a character so that'll be fun and surreal for all of us. You don't get that every day." He added, "We've had some popular folks come see our show but you don't often get a direct descendent of one of your main characters. That's very exciting and I'm very curious to see their reception."
Thanking the cast for their performance, the prince said, "I don't know how you guys do it, every single night over and over again, and in this heat as well." He added, "To all you guys, thank you so much. That was spectacular."
The performance was held to raise money for the HIV charity Sentebale, which Harry founded in 2006. The cause has always been close to the duke's heart, and his mother Diana was also well known for her work with HIV and AIDS patients, which has been credited with changing the perception of the disease among the British public.
Harry thanked the audience for helping "raise a huge amount of money to change the lives of thousands of children in Botswana and Lesotho and through that work that we're going to be doing now we will be able to stop the generational...hand-down of the stigma of HIV." Around $390,000 was raised in total, the BBC said.
The royal couple's appearance marked the end of their summer break, during which the two enjoyed some much-needed privacy following May's royal wedding frenzy. Nonetheless, Meghan's family have been in the headlines throughout the summer, thanks mostly to her father Thomas Markle.
The 74 year old claims he has not spoken to his daughter since her marriage. He also told the media he had hung up on Harry during a phone call about whether Markle had staged paparazzi photographs, according to Cosmopolitan.
Media access to the British Royal Family and their relatives is traditionally tightly controlled, making Meghan's outspoken family troublesome for the royals. Nonetheless, media reports suggest Queen Elizabeth II has become an important supporter for the duchess, Vanity Fair said, offering a sympathetic ear to the newest member of the historic family.
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