Prince Harry reveals why he was hours late to see Queen on deathbed

Prince Harry has finally revealed why he was an hour late to see the Queen on her deathbed, and it’s one of his most shocking claims yet.

Prince Harry copped widespread scrutiny when he was pictured arriving at the Queen’s deathbed an hour after the news broke, and now he’s revealed the shocking reason why he was so late.

The 38-year-old Duke of Sussex was seen pulling up to Balmoral Castle by himself almost two hours after Buckingham Palace released a statement that his grandmother died on September 8.

Further, he made it to the Scottish estate well after other members of the family, including Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and Prince William.

The father-of-two had been in Windsor with wife Meghan Markle preparing to attend a charity event in London that evening when he received news the Queen was unwell.

Prince Harry was seen arriving by himself at Balmoral. Picture: Michal Wachucik/Abermedia/Australscope

He then texted his brother, Prince William, to find out what the rest of the family was planning to do.

“I asked my brother, I said, ‘What are your plans, how are you and Kate getting up there?’ And then a couple of hours later all of the family members that lived within the Windsor and Ascot area were jumping on a plane together, a plane with 12, 14 maybe 16 seats,” Harry told Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes, which aired Monday.

Cooper asked, “You were not invited on that plane?”, to which Harry responded, “Not invited.”

Harry said he wasn’t invited on the plane with other members of the royal family. Picture: Ross Johnston/Newsline Media/Mega

At the time, Harry announced in a statement via the Sussexes spokesperson that he and Meghan would travel to Balmoral together. Shortly afterwards, it emerged Harry would be attending solo.

In Harry’s memoir Spare, which is officially released on January 10 but was leaked on Friday, he confirmed reports that circulated in the press at the time – that Charles called him and urged him not to bring his wife with him to Balmoral, which is what triggered the change of plans.

Harry and Meghan remained in the UK for the 10-day mourning period. Picture: Danny Lawson/WPA/Getty Images

“He told me I was welcome at Balmoral, but … without her,” he writes.

“He started to explain his reasons, but they didn’t make any sense at all, and it was disrespectful as well. I did not tolerate it from him. Don’t even think about talking about my wife like that.

“’Repentant,’ he said, stammering, that he simply didn’t want the place to be full of people. Nobody’s wife was going to go, not even Kate, he told me, so Meg shouldn’t either.”

Kate Middleton did not join William in Balmoral.

Elsewhere in the excerpt, Harry also revealed he found out about the Queen’s death online upon landing at Aberdeen Airport, after checking the BBC website.



Originally published as Prince Harry reveals why he was hours late to see Queen on deathbed