Prince Harry paid $55,000 for private jet to dying Queen Elizabeth

Prince Harry had to organise his own travel to Balmoral after William ignored text messages from him, a new book claims.

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex leave Westminster Hall, London after the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II was brought to the hall to lie in state ahead of her funeral. Picture: Getty Images.

Prince Harry paid A$55,000 for a private jet to race from London to Balmoral after hearing that the Queen was dying, after his brother Prince William ignored text messages from him, a new book claims.

Described as “scenes upsetting to witness”, the revelations come in excerpts of the book, which have been released just hours after Prince Harry rang his father King Charles to wish him a happy 75th birthday in what has been described as a “turning point” in their estrangement.

Omid Scobie.

Omid Scobie, who previously authored the Sussex hagiography “Finding Freedom”, has released excerpts to People magazine of his new book “Endgame” claiming that the Royal Family were “preparing’ for the Queen’s death without telling Harry or Meghan.

He also reveals the Queen died at 3.10pm, more than three hours before the official notification at 6.30pm London time, and that Harry was still in the air above Scotland when the public announcement was made.

Mr Scobie presents Harry in a self-pitying light, claiming the prince was “completely by himself” as travel options dwindled and that he had no way of getting updates about the Queen.

Mr Scobie claims that Harry and Meghan had “no idea Buckingham Palace was already planning for the Queen’s final hours and first days of the monarchy’s new era” until he received a call from his father on September 8, 2022, telling him to make his way to Balmoral immediately.

Harry and Meghan had been in London to attend a charity event during that time.

The excerpt says: “William, whom Charles had just spoken to, was supposedly working on arranging travel. Harry sent a text message to his brother asking how he and Kate planned to get to Scotland and whether they could travel together. No response.”

He then writes: “With no further information from other family members or Palace aides, the Sussexes and their team had to operate in the dark. Harry was informed that William had already secured a flight with his uncles Andrew and Edward (and Edward’s wife, Sophie), but he couldn’t get in touch with anyone about joining that flight. “It was upsetting to witness,” said a source close to the Sussexes. “[Harry] was completely by himself on this.”

Mr Scobie wrote: “Another call came through from Charles, who instructed his younger son to come alone. Despite already publicly confirming that Meghan would come with him (always the plan if they were travelling from California for this very situation), he reluctantly agreed, after Charles assured him that Kate would not be there, either.

“Charles had cited “protocol,” but the reality was that Kate chose to stay back to pick up the children from their first day at a new school. “They just didn’t want Meghan there,” said a former Palace aide. Meghan, a friend added, “could sense she wasn’t wanted.

“Harry sent another text to his brother. Nothing. Though there were available seats on William’s chartered Dassault Falcon private jet, which was leaving in less than an hour, Harry was left to fend for himself.”

Mr Scobie wrote that there were rumours of the Queen dying but Harry had “no way of knowing’’ if this was true because Charles doesn’t carry a movie phone and his brother “wasn’t acknowledging his existence”.

He wrote that when William and the others landed at 3.50pm they discovered that the Queen had passed away at 3:10pm, but Harry “still had no idea what was going on when his own plane finally took off at 5.35pm” for a 70 minute flight.

Mr Scobie claimed that on the ground, there was a tug-of-war between the Sussexes’ team and Buckingham Palace over whether to announce the news without Harry being informed.

He wrote: “With Her Majesty’s death already confirmed to the prime minister an hour before Harry left, and all other senior family members now gathered in Scotland processing the news, royal press secretaries were ready to share the news with the world. The Palace claimed Charles tried to call Harry (sources later told me there was never any proof of this), and that there was no more time left to delay.”

Other book revelations are expected throughout the week.

Harry’s birthday call to his father, which included video messages from his children Archie and Lilibet came on the eve of the book’s release on the weekend.

Mr Scobie said there was “no going back” for the brothers and “absolutely nothing has changed” since Harry’s own book Spare was released earlier this year. Harry was disparaging of Queen Camilla, as well as William and Kate in Spare.

Mr Scobie claimed the hurt and anger between the brothers had become indifference.

“I saw Harry’s release of Spare as his last attempt at telling his family how he’s felt for years,” Mr Scobie told People. “Because clearly there’s never been an open enough forum to have these conversations or share these feelings.”