It was around 2 p.m. on Thursday when the statement was released: After hearing the news about Queen Elizabeth II’s declining health, the prince harry and Meghan Markle, currently in Europe for the launch of the Invictus Games, had just come fromset off for Balmoral“, to say a last goodbye to the sovereign. Unexpected news that would have made the employees of the Royal House “incredulous“ according to DailyMail.
And not just employees: the closest members of the royal family would also have found it difficult to accept the presence of the American actress, while relations with the latter have been very tense for several years. According to the English newspaper, a small melodrama then played out behind the high walls of Balmoral before the couple’s spokesman restored the situation, announcing that only the father of Archie (3 years old) and Lilibet (1 year old) would go there.
Very discreet, Meghan Markle would have remained, meanwhile, in Windsor, where Harry would have joined him directly Friday morning after spending the night in Scotland. But what happened for her to make the decision to cancel her visit? For some royal experts, the young woman did not know that her sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, would not be present either and decided not to come when she learned that she had also preferred to stay in Windsor to be with her three children, George (9 years old), Charlotte (7 years old) and Louis (4 years old).
For others, on the other hand, as we can read in another British daily, The Sunit is Prince Charles, now king, who would have refused the presence of the American, explaining to Harry that his visit was “not appropriate“, given that only very close family members were present around the queen. Indeed, only the four children of the queen (Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward) as well as her two grandsons (William and Harry) had made the trip, the others having all stayed at home.
And it must be said that the last relations between the couple from Sussex and the royal family had not been very good: invited to spend part of the summer at Balmoral with the children, the couple now exiled in the United States had refused . In any case, they should remain on British territory until the funeral next week, at which they will both be present…