Since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moved to the US, their relationships with other members of the royal family have continued to be strained. Upon the news of their departure from royal life in 2020, there were reports that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had fallen out with Prince William and Kate Middleton, and Harry confirmed that tensions had been rising between the brothers in both his interview with Oprah and his memoir Spare, as well as in his Netflix documentary, Harry & Meghan.
Following a number of bombshell revelations during his media appearances over the last two years, King Charles has reportedly distanced himself from his youngest son and did not see Harry when he was in the UK earlier this year. However, there has since speculation that Harry and Meghan could return to the UK this summer to build bridges with the royals at Balmoral following Charles and Kate’s cancer diagnosis’. The couple reportedly reached out to the Princess of Wales after her appearance at Wimbledon, and there have been hopes that the estranged family members may reconcile at the royal family’s Scottish estate, a place that was often used by the late Queen Elizabeth II in the warmer months, and where the Prince and Princess of Wales are expected to spend time there with their young family in August.
However, one royal expert and author has now claimed that Harry and Meghan will not be invited to Balmoral this year, as the King and the Duke of Sussex are not in contact. Author Tom Quinn, who has penned a number of royal biographies, told the Mirror: “With Kate and Charles in a difficult place, the last thing the family needs is Harry at Balmoral. Everyone knows that it couldn’t be done without also inviting Meghan and that is a step too far.
“Meghan has always been seen as the main driving force behind Harry’s public attacks on the family. William and Charles know that inviting Harry without Meghan is just to give Harry another subject for the sequel to Spare that Harry is writing.”
While the King has allegedly expressed hopes to welcome the Sussexes back into the fold to reduce the public interest in the family dramas, William is ‘completely adamant that they shouldn’t be welcomed back’, according to a report in the Express. A source told the publication last year: “William doesn’t think the Sussexes have much more ammunition and they’ve already played their best cards. Charles is the only senior member of the family who is holding out any hope of a reconciliation, but that has more to do with Harry being his son than anything else.”
The Palace has not yet commented.
