King Charles III is set to shut the door on any hopes of a royal reunion at Sandringham this summer, with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reportedly left off the guest list following their eyebrow-raising trip to Australia.
The 77-year-old monarch is said to be unimpressed by the Sussexes’ four-day visit Down Under, which wrapped on Sunday and saw Harry deliver a series of deeply personal – and pointed – remarks about royal life.
During a paid appearance at the Interedge Summit in Melbourne, the Duke of Sussex revealed he never wanted to be a working royal, linking his reluctance to the death of his mother, Princess Diana.
“After my mum died, just before my 13th birthday, I was like, ‘I don’t want this job. I don’t want this role’,” he told the crowd.
“Wherever this is headed, I don’t like it. It killed my mum, and I was very much against it.”
He also said he wanted to be a better parent than his father, and credited therapy with helping him to “cleanse himself of the past”.
The comments have reportedly not gone down well behind palace doors, particularly given recent suggestions Harry was open to repairing relations with his family.
A friend of the prince recently told The Sunday Times he would “love” to reconnect and spend time at Sandringham during a planned UK visit in July, tied to meetings with Birmingham Invictus Games teams.
“He’d like an invite to Sandringham. Would he go? It would depend on who was there. If the King was to say, ‘Come up and spend some time with the family’, he’d love that,” the friend said.
But insiders now claim that prospect is firmly off the table.
“Charles won’t invite them. Especially not after their trip to Australia,” a source told journalist Paula Froelich.
According to the insider, the Sussexes’ public appearances – and Harry’s remarks – have been viewed as a direct contradiction of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s stance on stepping back from royal duties.
The late monarch had insisted there could be “no half in, half out” arrangement when the couple quit royal life and relocated to the US in 2020.
“They (Harry and Meghan) never would have pulled this stunt if the Queen were alive, but they can now?” the source said.
“Harry and Meghan will come. But it won’t be at the King’s invitation.”
While Harry has made several solo trips back to the UK in recent years, Meghan and their two children, Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, four, have not returned since the Queen’s funeral in September 2022.
Security remains a major sticking point. Harry, who is still awaiting a decision over his UK protection arrangements, has repeatedly stated he will not bring his family back without taxpayer-funded security.
“There is not a world in which he brings the kids back unless there is an enhanced security package around them,” Harry’s friend said.
A Buckingham Palace source responded bluntly, with a ‘friend’ of the King’s telling the Daily Mail: “If Harry truly wishes to see his father, he would do well to encourage his supporters to allow such matters to be discussed privately, since low trust and bitter experience in this regard remains one of the principal barriers to progress.”
Behind the scenes, tensions appear to be escalating, with a second source telling Froelich that Harry’s stance on security has been interpreted as “emotional blackmail” – particularly given Charles has not seen his California-based grandchildren in four years.
“It’s emotional blackmail. ‘Do this, and maybe you can see your grandchildren’,” they said.
The source added that the remarks would not sit well with Prince William and Princess Catherine, who are also expected to spend time at Sandringham.
The brothers remain estranged and have not seen each other since the Queen’s funeral.
“(The two couples) can’t stand each other. William will never go near Harry again, especially if he’s still married to Meghan,” the source said.
“It’s extremely brazen to say you would ‘accept’ an invite and then hint you would have to have control over the guest list if you were to deign to accept.”
For now, Harry continues to travel to the UK alone for charity work, accompanied by privately funded security.
He is only granted publicly funded protection when attending official events at the King’s request, such as during the period following the Queen’s death and for Charles’ coronation in May 2023.
The Sussexes also received partial taxpayer-funded security during their recent visit to Australia.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.skynews.com.au ’
