Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have had “no contact” from Buckingham Palace about an invitation to King Charles’ 75th birthday party next week, their spokesperson told MailOnline today.
King Charles III will celebrate the milestone on Tuesday, November 14, with a party at Clarence House with his closest friends and family.
The Sunday Times reported that Prince Harry had turned down an invitation to the birthday party and would remain in California. But a spokesperson for the Sussexes told MailOnline the couple had no idea.
‘There has been no contact regarding an invitation to His Majesty’s upcoming birthday. It is disappointing that the Sunday Times misreported this story,” they said. The same spokesperson also denied that Meghan, who found fame on Suits, will return to acting following reports earlier this week.
A source close to the Sussexes told MailOnline that they had not been invited to Charles III’s party in London next week. “They had not received any invitations and were not aware of any celebrations until the stories emerged,” the insider said, adding: “I am sure the Duke will find a way to get in touch privately to ask His To wish your Majesty a happy birthday like him. always has done’.
A friend of the couple suggested the palace could have even leaked the “snarly” story to divert attention from the recent royal visit to Kenya, where the king was called on to apologize for Britain’s colonial past.
“The story is positioned in such a way to make it seem as if the Duke disapproves of his father, which is not the case,” the friend said. ‘Given the journey [to Kenya] didn’t go well, then this might be a welcome distraction.’
Royal and government sources have made it clear that they consider last week’s Kenyan trip a ‘resounding success’.
Prince Harry (pictured, center with his wife at the Queen’s funeral) has reportedly not spoken to his father, King Charles III, for quite some time. The Duke of Sussex’s spokesman has denied turning down his father’s 75th birthday
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have had a bitter feud with the rest of his family in recent years, ever since they quit their royal duties and emigrated to California.
A source close to the couple said Harry (pictured at his father’s coronation) and Meghan had not received an invitation to King Charles’ birthday plans
King Charles will celebrate his 75th birthday next week with a party at Clarence House
A friend of the Sussexes told MailOnline that they would normally have been included in plans for major events in Britain, despite the widening rift between themselves and the rest of the royal family.
‘The Times story and subsequent stories are positioned in such a way as to make it appear as if the Duke disapproves of his father, which is not the case.’
Relations have been strained since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped down as senior royals and moved to California.
They made a number of claims about their treatment by the Palace, including in an extensive interview with Oprah and in Harry’s memoirs.
Although the Duke has since attended his father’s coronation at Westminster Abbey in May, his relationship with King Charles remains fractured – with the royal family failing to publicly mark his birthday in September.
Harry and Meghan’s friend said the story about the party push may have been intended to distract
However, King Charles and Queen Camilla’s trip to Kenya is considered a “resounding success” at Buckingham Palace and within the government, which had asked the monarch to go to East Africa to strengthen ties between the countries.
It was not marred by protests and the only major criticism seemed to come from the Sussexes’ favorite royal reporter Omid Scobie, who said the red carpet on the trip made the King and Queen look ‘out of touch’ .
But there were claims that the red carpet treatment was done at the behest of Kenyan authorities.
The king also took a major step, telling the Kenyan people in a key speech of his “deepest sorrow and deepest regret” over Britain’s “abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence” during the colonial era.
At a state banquet in Nairobi on the first evening of the four-day visit, Charles said there was “no excuse” for British “abuses” in the East African country, especially against the Mau Mau uprising, which killed 11,000 people in the 1950s came to life. .
The king stopped short of an immediate apology, which carries greater legal liability because it is not the policy of the British government to do so.
‘Their Royal Highnesses thoroughly enjoyed the trip. I think it’s fair to say it’s been a resounding success,” an aide told Vanity Fair, adding: “There’s a sense of relief that this went so well and a sense that the king and queen have hit the right note’.
The King and Queen at Fort Jesus, in Mombasa’s Old Town, during their visit to Kenya last week
Prince Harry (pictured, left) and Meghan Markle (pictured, right) were not spoken to by Buckingham Palace about the party, their spokesperson said
King Charles will celebrate his 75th birthday at Clarence House on November 14
An insider has claimed that the Duke of Sussex has not received any personal wishes from his brother, Prince William, or his father, King Charles.
They even told The Telegraph: ‘Communication between the King and Prince Harry remains quite poor. They hardly speak at all.’
They said one possible reason for this is that King Charles was disappointed with the way Harry wrote about Queen Camilla in his autobiography, Spare.
The Duke said his stepmother is ‘dangerous’ and a ‘bad guy’ who has ‘left bodies in the streets’.
He wrote in Spare: ‘I have complex feelings about gaining a stepparent who I thought had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar.’
Harry also accused Charles and Camilla of ‘planting stories’ about William and his family: ‘Give Dad and Camilla an inch, he said, they’ll take a mile.’
He told Good Morning America in an interview shortly after Spare was published: “We haven’t spoken in a long time. I love every member of my family, despite their differences.
“So when I see her, we’re really nice to each other. She’s my stepmother. I don’t consider her a bad stepmother.
“I see someone who married into this institution and has done everything she can to improve her own reputation and her own image, for her own good.”
A Buckingham Palace spokesman declined to comment, saying the palace does not comment on personal family matters.