Prince Harry and Meghan Markle May Get a Holiday Invite From King Charles, but Not for Christmas
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle might have something of a royal family holiday season after all. Not the traditional royal family celebration at Sandringham with the walk to church and presents on Christmas Eve, but something else. Rather, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex could spend New Year’s with King Charles III. Ahead, why ringing in 2024 with Harry and Meghan may keep royal family drama to a minimum amid the ongoing rift.
Spending New Year’s with King Charles sidesteps an awkward Prince William, Prince Harry reunion
Harry and Prince William can avoid a potentially tense run-in come Christmastime with a simple schedule move on their father’s part. King Charles may invite Harry and Meghan to Scotland for New Year’s, effectively making sure the 39-year-old duke and 41-year-old Prince of Wales don’t cross paths.
According to one insider, the reason is that Christmas plans, whatever they may be, will have already been scheduled.
“Christmas plans are normally nailed down by now,” they said (via Mail). “Sandringham isn’t a particularly big place, and there’s not a lot of room for the entire extended family.” However, “As with anything to do with Harry and Meghan, let’s face it, anything can happen.”
Another cited timing. William and Kate Middleton, as well as their three children, will have already left for Anmer Hall by New Year’s.
“It would certainly have the advantage of killing two birds with one stone,” the insider said. How exactly? By “extending an olive branch to one son without causing difficulty to the other.”
They also added if Harry and Meghan were to accept an invitation for Christmas, it’s “unlikely they would be welcomed with open arms.”
Harry and Meghan aren’t likely to say no to a holiday invitation from King Charles
On the subject of Christmas at Sandringham, a source claimed the pair would be “happy to accept” an invite.
“I can’t imagine the Sussexes would decline an invitation to spend time with his majesty,” a “friend” told Sunday Times. “As of yet, there have not been any invitations for the holidays.”
Invitation aside, spending the holidays together does present concerns for King Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla. “The king and queen worry that if stories about phone calls and private conversations make it into the public domain,” an insider told The Telegraph, “they will be accused of leaking to the press. Even if it’s obvious it didn’t come from them.
“They just think ‘it’s in the public domain,” they explained. “And public domain equals bad.”
Harry and Meghan potentially spending New Year’s with King Charles ‘begs the question, why now?’
Another insider questioned the timing of a possible Sussex-King Charles New Year. “It’s so bizarre to have behaved so badly, demanded an apology and an admission of ‘guilt’ — to no avail, I might add — from the family,” they began. “And now suggest they’ll just waltz back in and allow bygones to be bygones if only someone would be good enough [to] invite them.”
They went on, noting how King Charles and Queen Elizabeth II before him invited the pair to Balmoral. However, Harry and Meghan haven’t visited the royal family’s summer home since 2018.
“Which begs the question, why now?” they asked. “Is it something to do with the fact that some of their commercial deals, such as Spotify, have fallen around their ears, and they have been subject to ridicule in the U.S. in shows such as South Park and Family Guy?”
“Could it be,” the insider continued, “that they have realised [sic] moaning about how awful being a member of the royal family is, isn’t such a great strategy after all?”
For now, the world will have to wait to see what Harry and Meghan do over the holidays.
