Last September, Prince Harry was in England for less than 48 hours before traveling to Germany for the Invictus Games. Harry’s priorities were: attending the WellChild Awards, which had been specifically scheduled around his visit; and paying his respect to his late grandmother on the one-year anniversary of her death. He managed to do both with little drama, only being seen at St. George’s Chapel (where he visited QEII’s crypt) by tourists. Weeks later, we learned that Harry actually did contact his father, who was staying in Scotland at the time. Harry requested a room in Windsor Castle for the night and his father refused, but King Charles apparently tried to hijack Harry’s trip and asked Harry to come up to Balmoral for a day. Harry did not take him up on the offer, and Buckingham Palace did wall-to-wall briefings about it just after the Invictus Games (which BP ignored).
There’s obviously a long and extensive history with the Windsors’ attempts to isolate Harry at Balmoral, and I honestly appreciate the fact that Harry has mostly avoided their Scooby-Doo-esque plots. Speaking of, Page Six’s sources claim that Charles plans to invite the whole Sussex clan to Balmoral this summer. Wait, I thought Charles decreed that no Black folks are allowed at Balmoral?
King Charles may extend an olive branch and invite Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to Balmoral Castle this summer in a bid to be reunited with his grandchildren, sources tell Page Six. The cancer-stricken monarch has seen Prince Archie, who turns 5 next month, on just a few occasions — and only seen Princess Lilibet in person once. However, there is buzz that Charles, 75, will invite the Sussexes to the royal family’s beloved retreat.
The monarch likes to retire to the Scottish countryside every year and is joined by members of the family, from the Prince and Princess of Wales — who is fighting her own cancer battle — to his own siblings.
A well-placed society source told us, “I can see Charles desperately wanting to see the children, and extending this olive branch to Meghan and Harry. He may decide that life is just too short. Balmoral is truly the perfect, restful place for a reunion. If he does issue an invite, then Harry and Meghan should surely agree to the visit.”
Charles only met Lilibet — nicknamed Lili — for the first time during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations for the late Queen Elizabeth in June 2022. It was confirmed that Charles spent time with the children during a vist that a royal source later described as “fantastic” and “very emotional.”
A few things – spare us the “Charles wants to see his grandchildren” narrative because that man has done everything he can to shun those children and put them in danger. He even evicted the Sussexes from Frogmore Cottage, their family home to which they had a valid lease (sidenote: we still haven’t heard who moved into Frogmore, btw – they way the Windsors spoke about it, it was a crime to have this small cottage sitting vacant). Anyway, I feel like this is a preview of the Windsors’ summer storyline – will Harry and Meghan come to Balmoral, no, Meghan can’t come because she wasn’t invited, Charles is snubbing Lili from the invitations, etc. I guess the whole “Invictus Games church service” storyline is going nowhere.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.