Live blog: Harry and Meghan visit Bristol

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Meghan, are coming to Bristol today. Follow this live blog for all the latest coverage as the royal couple visit the Bristol Old Vic in the city centre and Empire Fighting Chance on Lower Ashley Road in Easton.

4.01pm
It can now be revealed that Meghan and Harry also visited the charity One25 on Grosvenor Road in St Paul’s today. Read the full story here.

Photo courtesy of Kensington Palace

3.21pm:
Harry and Meghan have left Easton and today’s royal visit is officially over.

3.19pm
The royal couple have been presented with a pair of boxing gloves and pose for a group photo.

2.59pm
Meghan: “You can apply the same sentiment to everything in life. Just breaking it down and then you realise that you can do everything. It doesn’t seem so daunting.”

2.47pm
Meghan and Harry are having a chat with some of the girls enrolled on a programme at the gym, and how empowering taking part can be.

2.41pm
Prince Harry asks somebody what his favourite thing is about Bristol. “Food!” comes the immediate reply.

Photo by Sarah Turnnidge

2.34pm
Harry and Meghan are currently watching a training session at the gym take place.

2.16pm
“The thought of sitting down with a therapist can be a real deterrent,” says Prince Harry. “However, this is the sort of place that you don’t even realise you are being cured. But you are.”

Photo by Sarah Turnnidge

2.11pm
Meghan and Harry’s second Bristol trip of the day was in sharp contrast to the first.

2.09pm
Harry and Meghan have arrived at Empire Fighting Chance.

Bristol mayor Marvin Rees joined the royal couple in Easton, where he grew up – photo by Jon Craig

2.07pm
A patriotic group outside the Easton gym.

Daisy, Honey, Ruby and Bobby

2.03pm
Here is the crowd outside Empire Fighting Chance waiting for Meghan and Harry.

1.58pm
The royal couple are expected to arrive soon at Empire Fighting Chance.

1.49pm
Read our full report – with more videos and photos – of Meghan and Harry’s visit to Bristol Old Vic.

1.15pm
Kensington Palace have just released these photos from the Duke and Duchess’ visit tour of the theatre:

1.10pm
Our recommendation for somewhere that Harry and Meghan could visit for lunch is Falafel King on the centre, not too far from the Old Vic.

12.41pm
Here’s Harry greeting the crowds earlier today after his car arrived outside the Old Vic:

12.31pm
The two royals remain inside Bristol Old Vic. Their next planned visit is to Empire Fighting Chance in Easton.

12.18pm
Huge respect to all of the police officers on duty today.

11.49am
“Thanks for coming out and saying hello,” Prince Harry tells a woman in the crowd who thanks him for coming to Bristol.

“You know who you can thank. You can thank Great West Rail. They managed to get us here. We were almost guaranteed that it wasn’t going to work. It’s the only thing that works at the moment, right.”

11.41am
Meghan and Harry have arrived. They take more than six minutes greeting wellwishers on opposite sides of King Street outside before walking into the Old Vic.

https://www.facebook.com/bristol247/videos/646456535771592/

11.36am
Overheard in the crowd: “I apparently met the Queen once when I was little.” Reply: “I met Bruce Willis once.”

11.33am
Here are some of the invited guests inside the Old Vic:

11.31am
Kerry Sims is a student midwife and Ellie Hall is a student physiotherapist at UWE. Ellie said: “I follow a lot of royal Instagram accounts so found out they were visiting and had to come down.”

Kerry added: “I’ve been in night shifts so wouldn’t have known they were coming if it wasn’t for Ellie.”

11.28am
Wriggle, whose office is next door to the Old Vic, are making the most of a unique marketing opportunity:

11.21am
The crowds on King Street continue to grow. Speculation is rife over whether Meghan will wear heels or boots.

11.13am
Waiting behind the barrier is Sophia Elliss, a radiographer at Southmead Hospital who is originally from Melbourne. “I’m not working until the afternoon and thought it would be lovely to catch a glimpse of the Duke and Duchess. I’m not a long-term royal fan. I just think Meghan and Harry are great.”

11.11am
Maria Rubio, 19, from Fishponds, is a student journalist at Nottingham Trent. “I’m looking for a worthwhile story for my first assessment,” she says.

“From what I’ve heard the royals haven’t visited Bristol in a while so I think it’s quite a big deal. I hope this gets me a good enough grade. None of my classmates are here in Bristol so I should be the only one with this story!”

11.07am
“Harry’s my favourite,” says 20-year-old Calum, who lives in the city centre. “He’s more relatable because of the stuff he does with his charity, Heads Together. I’ve only been here 10 minutes but I’m definitely going to wait it out until they come.”

11.02am
Albert Nieboer is a freelance photographer who specialises in photos of the Royal Family and works all over Europe. He was in London yesterday to take shots of Meghan.

10.49am
A banner hung from the King Street almshouses urges Harry and Meghan to help save the tapanuli orangutan.

10.32am
A small crowd of university students has gathered behind barriers erected on King Street to get the best view of proceedings.

10.01am
More guests arrive. Two break into song. “Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day,” they sing as the snow continues to fall heavily.

9.51am
“I’m intrigued to see the royals,” says Lawrence Hoo, a poet whose work is influenced by various experiences of growing up in and around Easton and St Paul’s.

Poet Lawrence Hoo outside Bristol Old Vic

9.49am
Gary the gritter lorry arrives.

9.47am
Historian Madge Dresser and poet Miles Chambers are waiting outside the Old Vic to be let in, as theatre staff check invites and and IDs.

Madge Dresser and Miles Chambers

“I think I went to the same high school as Meghan’s mum in LA,” Madge told Bristol24/7. “At least so I’m told. I need to corroborate that. I like the idea that a feminist with egalitarian ideas is in the royal family.”

Miles added: “I just think it’s lovely that those two are together and that they are in love and that they want to visit Bristol and are interested in its culture.

“They seem like such a genuine couple. It will be lovely to meet her. I saw the wedding and I saw the Royal family and there’s Meghan’s mum with dreadlocks sitting there. I just think it’s just so beautiful and shows how far we’ve come.”

9.34am
Meghan visited City University in London yesterday. She and Harry will need a few more layers than this for their walkabout on King Street later this morning.

Photo courtesy of Kensington Palace

8.48am
What a day for the royal couple to visit Bristol:

8.17am
A bit of snow isn’t going to stop the visit to Easton:

8.07am
It’s still quiet on King Street in advance of Meghan and Harry’s arrival, with a police car outside the Old Vic and a solitary (and chilly) police community support officer on duty.

Meghan and Harry are due to visit King Street later this morning

7.12am
Officially announcing the visit on January 25, Kensington Palace described the trip to Bristol as a chance for the royal couple “to meet members of the public, learn more about the city’s rich cultural history, and visit organisations supporting communities most in need”.

6.21am
This new timeline on the wall of Empire Fighting Chance show the history of it and Bristol Boxing Gym, who also use the space.

New signage in the reception of Empire Fighting Chance was completed in time for the royal visit by Artworks Solutions

6am
Welcome to this live blog on what is set to be a memorable day for Bristol. Specific details are currently thin on the ground, but the visit of Harry and Meghan will certainly be a picturesque one thanks to last night’s snowfall. More snow is forecast until 11am, with temperatures not set to rise above two degrees.

Read more: Meghan and Harry to visit Bristol