Kate’s hidden Meghan snub in Queen birthday tribute

Catherine, Princess of Wales shared an unseen photo of the Queen surrounded by ‘some’ of the late Monarch’s great-grandchildren. But not others, including the notably absent Archie and Lilibet.

Picture: Getty Images

Catherine, Princess of Wales posted a moving tribute to the Queen surrounded by “some” of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren during the last of the late Monarch’s beloved Balmoral summer sleepovers.

The Queen reportedly invited Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to an annual get-together of her grandchildren and their children - which would include Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet - but the House of Sussex rejected the olive branch and instead travelled to The Netherlands for the Invictus Games.

The touching photo was taken by Princess Catherine at Scotland’s Balmoral Castle in August 2022, just a couple of weeks before the Queen died in September.

The Queen with ‘some’ of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Picture: Getty Images.

It turned out to be the last chance for the Queen to see her grandchildren and great-grandchildren before her death.

In a birthday post of the previously-unseen photo, Princess Catherine shared the moving image on what “would have been Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s 97th birthday”

“This photograph – showing her with some of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren – was taken at Balmoral last summer,” she said.

The photo showed the Queen surrounded by her extended royal line, including Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex, (middle row, left to right) Lena Tindall, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Isla Phillips, Prince Louis, and (front row, left to right) Mia Tindall holding Lucas Tindall, and Savannah Phillips.

Today would have been Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s 97th birthday.

This photograph - showing her with some of her grandchildren and great grandchildren - was taken at Balmoral last summer.

📸 The Princess pic.twitter.com/1FOU4Ne5DX

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) April 21, 2023

“It was a source of sadness to the Queen that she got to see so little of Archie and Lilibet and that Harry and Meghan were not able to join her for a weekend at Balmoral in August,” according to royal author Katie Nicholl.

The big “Balmoral sleepover” would have been the last time the 96-year-old saw her two great-grandchildren, Archie Harrison, 3, and Lilibet Diana, 1, before she died just a couple of weeks later on September 8.

The Queen only briefly spent time with Archie before he moved to the US, and only met Lilibet for the first time when Prince Harry and Ms Markle returned to the UK for a visit in June.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are joined by Doria Ragland Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in 2019. Picture: Getty Images

The US-based couple, who were also invited to Birkhall with the then-Prince Charles, turned down the offers and instead embarked on a pseudo-royal tour of London and Europe, leaving Archie and Lilibet behind in California.

The heartbreaking claims were made in Ms Nichol’s book, The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and the Future of the Crown.

Ms Nichol claimed the Sussex’s decision to move their family to the United States after stepping down from the royal family left the Queen exhausted by the turmoil of the move, according to a “close to the King”.

“She was very hurt and told me, ‘I don’t know, I don’t care, and I don’t want to think about it anymore’,” the source told Ms Nichol for her book.

Prince Harry was reportedly “wracked by guilt” over the lost opportunity for the family to spend one last summer sleepover together.

“No one had any idea just how sick the Queen was in her final days, and Harry is devastated that he did not take her up on this invite,” a royal insider told RadarOnline after the Queen’s death.

“If he did know she was not going to live, of course, he would have made a different decision.”

Harry and Meghan pose for their Christmas card with Archie and Lilibet. Picture: ALEXI LUBOMIRSKI/The Times

Prince Harry made a mad dash to Balmoral in a last-ditch effort to see his beloved grandmother, but he didn’t arrive until hours after she passed away.

“Harry knows his grandmother desperately wanted to see him, and while he and Meghan made the decision because they didn’t necessarily want to see the rest of the family, the opportunity to see the Queen is a prospect that has left him distraught,” the insider added.

Originally published as Kate’s hidden Meghan snub in Queen birthday tribute