It didn’t take long for the world to find out that many members of the royal family – including Prince William and Kate Middleton, along with their three children, Prince George, 8, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4 – didn’t attend Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s daughter Lilibet’s first birthday party, which took place on Saturday, June 4th over the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend. And according to a royal insider, many members of the royal family are reluctant to admit to having any involvement in the one-year-old’s party, including the fact that so many people didn’t attend went public so quickly.
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“Although the wider family were invited to Lilibet’s first birthday party on the Saturday, only the Tindalls’ and Mr Phillips’ children attended, while their parents spent the afternoon at the Epsom Derby,” royal expert Camilla Tominey wrote in The Telegraph. Tominey added: “According to one source: ‘There was a bit of reluctance among the royals to admit to having any involvement in Lilibet’s birthday party.'”
The Sussexes reportedly also invited Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and the Queen herself, but they were unable to attend. We don’t know the exact reasons for their absence – although it’s thought that the Queen’s absence was related to her ongoing mobility issues and post Covid fatigue – but we do know that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge couldn’t be there as they took their children Prince George and Princess Charlotte to Wales for some Platinum Jubilee engagements.
Despite the many absences, it still looked like Lilibet – and the children who did attend – had a great time at the party, which was held on the grounds of Frogmore Cottage, and featured fun activities such as face painting and children's games. The party was also when the adorable picture of Lilibet sitting on the grass in her birthday dress was taken by Misan Harriman, a friend of the Sussexes.
So what does this new information mean for the royal family and the ongoing feud? Even though many sources are reporting that Prince Charles was (and still is) keen to heal the rift between him and his son for the sake of his grandchildren, other outlets are suggesting that the royals 'snubbing' Lilibet's birthday party has only added fuel to the fire, and the royal rift is far from over!
