Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s friend says couple’s exclusion from state reception ‘beyond bonkers'
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s friend has given insight into how the couple will be feeling after being banned from a state reception of world leaders.
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Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle’s exclusion from the King’s reception for world leaders is “beyond bonkers”, a friend of the couple claimed.
“It is beyond bonkers if they’re not there. Everyone is coming in from around the world to pay their respects to the Queen” the source said, according to The Sunday Times.
The source added the Sussexes will feel “excluded”.
It comes amid reports the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were initially invited to the state reception at Buckingham Palace in error.
The couple received a formal invitation to the event for world leaders and foreign royals early last week, The Telegraph reports.
However, palace aides then declared that only working members of the royal family would attend.
The Telegraph reports the Sussexes were eventually informed on Friday that there had been a mix-up and that they were not actually invited.
It is thought a mistake may have been made when invitations were sent to the original list of working royals drawn up as part of plans made in advance of the Queen’s death, before Prince Harry and Meghan stepped down from royal life.
Another report from Page Six claimed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex found out they were “uninvited” to the Buckingham Palace state reception by reading press reports.
“Harry and Meghan actually got the invitation and no-one has actually told them they are uninvited,” a source told Page Six.
Another said: “I’m told they only found out they were uninvited by reading press reports.”
The gathering, on the eve of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, was one of the biggest gatherings of world leaders in modern history.
More than 500 heads of state and dignitaries were invited to the event, hosted by King Charles.
A spokesman for The King said: “This is one of the last moments for Her Majesty the Queen as opposed to the first for His Majesty.”
The reception was held in Buckingham Palace’s Picture Gallery and State Rooms, with a dress code of lounge suits, as the Royal Family is in mourning.
World leaders that attended the reception and visited Westminster Hall, where the Queen is lying in state, included US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, French President Emmanuel Macron, China Vice President Wang Qishan, Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
MEGHAN MARKLE POSTPONES MAJOR MAGAZINE COVER
Meghan Markle postponed a ‘Power of Women’ cover story for Variety magazine, out of respect for the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The podcaster and former Suits actress was to feature on the cover of the highly influential publication alongside the likes of Ava DuVernay, Elizabeth Olsen, and Hillary and Chelsea Clinton.
However, the magazine has announced that Markle’s cover will not be available until further notice, while the Royal Family mourn the loss of Her Majesty, who died aged 96, on September 8.
“Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, was chosen as one of one of this year’s stellar honorees,” Variety said on Twitter.
“The Duchess’ cover will be postponed to a later date, out of respect for the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth II.”
The Duchess of Sussex will also no longer attend the ‘Power of Women’ issue’s accompanying Los Angeles event on September 28.
Variety publishes the same ‘Power of Women’ issue with different covers for each of the ‘honorees’.
They are usually released on the same day but Meghan’s cover will be postponed.
Meghan and her husband Prince Harry are currently away from their Los Angeles base in London, preparing for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.
MEGHAN AND HARRY’S FROGMORE FORTRESS
As non-working royals, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have most likely been holed up at Frogmore Cottage, while other family members have been greeting wellwishers around the country.
Unlike William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and other royals such as Anne, the Princess Royal and Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, who were shaking hands and thanking mourners for their floral tributes, the US-based couple stayed out of sight.
It was also Harry’s 38th birthday on Thursday, so they probably chose to spend it quietly together at Frogmore Cottage – their Windsor bolthole – which is just 800m from the Prince and Princess of Wales’ new abode Adelaide Cottage.
Safety concerns may also be a reason why they may not be keen on making personal trips, with Prince Harry currently in a legal wrangle with the Home Office over security.
He wants special police protection when he visits the UK, which he is happy to pay for.
Frogmore Cottage is safely located within the 655-acre private Royal Park of Windsor Castle.
Whether they saw other family members like his brother Prince William and his wife Kate on his birthday is not known.
But the new Prince of Wales said he had “not forgotten” it was his brother’s birthday, when asked by a mourner on Thursday.
Outside the royal family’s Sandringham estate, in Norfolk, where the Wales’ had travelled to greet wellwishers, Prince William spoke to a mourner saying, “It is his birthday today – you’re absolutely right, it is,” the UK press reported.
Exactly how Prince Harry celebrated remains a secret but The Sun said he and Meghan were not at Prince William’s Adelaide Cottage home in Windsor.
It is presumed the couple spent it at ‘Fortress’ Frogmore where they have been based since their four-day trip was extended following the death of the Queen, last Thursday.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been present at all the official mourning events and Prince Harry stood with his brother and the Queen’s other grandchildren at another Vigil of the Princes on Sunday morning.
The only moment the Sussexes have made an unscheduled appearance so far was to greet mourners outside Windsor Castle, when Prince William invited him at the “11th hour”.
Prince Harry’s 38th birthday has traumatic parallels to his 13th birthday marked just days after his mother’s funeral, 25 years ago.
The Duke of Sussex found himself in the unenviable position of marking his milestone a week to the day after his grandmother’s death, midway through a period of public mourning for the record-breaking monarch.
The Sussexes were by coincidence in the UK on a small tour when the news broke on Thursday, September 8, so cancelled their engagements, put their work on hold and stayed at their Windsor base – away from their children Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1, who had remained in the USA.
And while Prince Harry no doubt found solace his family embraced him in their darkest hours – Prince William and Middleton invited the estranged duo on a shared walkabout in Windsor on Sunday – he can’t fail to notice the exclusions, too.
Prince Harry will not be able to wear military uniform at the funeral on Monday, because he is no longer a working Royal.
This decision, it’s reported, would have been made by King Charles and is doubly harsh because Prince Harry was a serving member of the Forces.
When the family flew to Balmoral to be with the ailing Queen, Prince Harry had to make his own way there, separate to Prince William, Edward, Sophie and Andrew, who travelled in an RAF jet.
According to reports, Prince Harry did not eat dinner with his father and brother the night the Queen died, but instead dined with Andrew, Edward, Sophie and Anne in Balmoral, while Prince William and King Charles were at Birkhall, on the Balmoral estate.
While King Charles made sure to pay tribute to his son and daughter-in-law in his first speech on Friday, saying, “I want also to express my love for Harry and Meghan as they continue to build their lives overseas”, insiders maintain there is still concern how much will be subsequently discussed in the Sussex’s podcasts and Netflix TV series.
Poignantly, Prince Harry has been here before – it was 25 years ago Prince Harry’s 13th birthday fell just nine days after the trauma of burying his mother Diana – and the horror that saw him forced to walk behind her coffin through the streets of London.
He has been open about his mental-health struggles dealing with having to grieve in public.
“My mother had just died, and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television,” he told biographer Angela Levin in Harry: Conversations with the Prince.
“No child should lose their mother at such a young age and then have his grief observed by thousands of people.”
He can’t fail but feel the parallels, as he finds himself once more, blowing out his candles and wishing for a much happier year ahead.
Originally published as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s friend says couple’s exclusion from state reception ‘beyond bonkers'
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