Prince Harry and Meghan Markle won’t be celebrating Christmas with the royal family at Sandringham later this month. According to a source who sat down with People, the Sussexes will not be invited to the royal Christmas festivities at Sandringham.
The Spare author, 40, and Suits alum, 43, anticipated to spend the holiday season in the United States, where they currently reside. They last participated in the royal family’s Christmas celebrations in 2018, the year they got married.
The pair were also left out of the guest list for Trooping the Colour in June this year, the yearly birthday event for King Charles. This came just a month after the Duke of Sussex and his father Charles, 76, missed another chance to connect. Harry was in the U.K. while celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games.
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Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Will Not Be Invited To The Royal Family's Christmas Celebration At Sandringham, Sources Say
At that moment, a representative for Harry cited the King's packed agenda and "full schedule" as the reason for the missed reunion, amidst continuing strains between Harry and his father, Charles, as well as his older brother, Prince William. William, 42, his wife Kate Middleton, and their three children—Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6—plan to celebrate Christmas at Sandringham.
However, neither Buckingham Palace nor Kensington Palace, where the Prince and Princess of Wales have their office, provided any additional information about the holiday guest list, People reported.
In 2020, Harry and Markle departed from England and eventually made their home in California. They are parents to two children: Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3. In February, Charles and his son Harry had a meeting after the King revealed his cancer diagnosis on the 5th of that month.
However, since then, reports suggest that their communication has worsened. Sources close to Harry claim that the King no longer answers his younger son's calls or replies to his letters.
“He gets ‘unavailable right now,’” a friend of Harry’s told the outlet. “His calls go unanswered. He has tried to reach out about the King’s health, but those calls go unanswered too.” According to several other sources who spoke to the magazine, Harry is very worried about the well-being of his wife and kids and has frequently reached out to his father for assistance.
Another insider dished: “Harry is frightened and feels the only person who can do anything about it is his father.” An additional tipster revealed: “Harry is determined to protect his own family at all costs.”
The pair withdrew from their roles as active members of the royal family in January 2020 and moved to Montecito, California, where they still live. According to a friend who spoke to People, they felt they had no other option.
“The only option was to leave — for their sanity. I do think they thought if they got out of this bubble, there would be less focus on them,” the source said. One major reason for relocating to California was security, particularly the option to hire armed private security in the U.S., according to individuals close to the couple. Another confidant informed People that Harry and Markle's decision to leave royal responsibilities should not impact the level of their protection. "Working royal or not, this is the King’s son," they said.
In 2019, Harry, Markle, and their son Archie chose to celebrate Christmas quietly in Canada. Merely a fortnight later, they revealed their plan to withdraw from their duties as working royals and have not spent Christmas at Sandringham since.
