The queen’s plans “cannot be” Harry and Meghan may not expect a warm royal reception with the release of Harry’s memoir, but the queen may ice them out, a palace source claims.
Royalist is The Daily Beast’s royal newsletter. Subscribe to receive it weekly.
Queen Elizabeth may not be able to meet Prince Harry and Meghan Markle when they visit the U.K. next month because she has a busy week at the start of September and “certain things cannot be shifted.”
The week beginning September 5 is jam-packed with constitutional tasks for the queen, according to sources at Buckingham Palace.
Harry and Meghan will be in the U.K. twice in September: for the One Young World 2022 Summit and the WellChild Awards. In between, they’ll be in Düsseldorf for the Invictus Games. They may stay at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, but it’s not certain.
The queen will ask Britain’s new prime minister to form a government at a public audience on September 6. The queen, famed for her assiduous work ethic, will need comprehensive briefing notes to prepare for her meeting with the incoming PM (likely right-winger Liz Truss) and is unlikely to welcome domestic distractions as she prepares to anoint what could be her last prime minister. She may want to think about the meeting with advisers and write it in her private journals after the formal event.
Who could blame the queen for cooling on a meeting? Harry told Hoda Kotb about the last time he saw his grandmother in an NBC Today interview, saying she told him secrets she wouldn’t tell other family members and he checked she had the “proper people” around her as if he were her guardian.
Few people like having their private talks broadcast, especially when it implies other family members are incompetent or indifferent. A bitten queen may be twice as shy.
The palace may be able to skip a meeting because Harry and Meghan chose this week for their visit.
Harry’s failure to meet his brother won’t be easily explained.
Consider how severe William and Harry’s feud is: Despite living less than half a mile apart, with William relocating to Adelaide Cottage on the Windsor estate and Harry and Meghan scheduled to stay at Frogmore Cottage, the brothers apparently have “no plans” to meet each other when Harry and Meghan visit next month.
- Read More:Â Iman Vellani News: Ms. Marvel Star Iman Vellani Debates Fan Theories on Burner Reddit Accounts
Victoria Ward, the Daily Telegraph’s royal journalist, reported: “no arrangements to visit the Cambridges” on Monday evening. The Telegraph did not identify its sources for the assertion, instead claiming, “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have no plans to see the Cambridges when they return to the U.K. next month.”
The wording suggested the assertion came from a Sussex camp briefing, although the Sussexes vowed last year that their spokespeople wouldn’t give off-the-record material to the media.
While their spokespeople won’t outright deny making the “no plans” comment, The Daily Beast has no reason to assume that their policy of not offering anonymous quotes is no longer in effect, implying they didn’t make the remark. Buckingham Palace denied the “no plans” comment. Williams and Kate’s staff didn’t respond to an email.
Few will deny the intelligence’s accuracy, despite its mysterious source. After the Platinum Jubilee disaster, William and Kate made no effort to meet Harry and Meghan in person and held an official engagement in Cardiff on Lilibet’s birthday.
