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Harry and Meghan may have said they’d accept a Christmas invitation to Sandringham, but it is unlikely they would be welcomed with open arms, insiders claimed last night. Following reports the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are keen to build bridges and would ‘not decline’ an offer to join His Majesty for the festive season, sources said the sudden ‘love-bombing’ from Montecito was ‘bizarre.’ It comes days after sources close to the Sussexes repeatedly briefed friendly publications of Harry’s intention to call his father to wish him happy birthday on Tuesday.
They subsequently offered surprising in-depth accounts of how both the prince and his wife came on the call and even shared video of their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, singing to the grandfather they have barely seen since they were born. And yesterday a claim in the Sunday Times by ‘friends of the Sussexes’ that they want to ‘change the state of play’ and would ‘readily accept’ an invitation prompted one source to tell the Mail: ‘It seems as if they are really doubling down on their reconciliation strategy.
‘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 and now suggest they’ll just waltz back in and allow bygones to be bygones if only someone would be good enough invite them.’ The insider pointed out the couple had invitations from both Queen Elizabeth and King Charles to join the family at Balmoral in the summer, but had chosen not to visit since 2018. They added: ‘Which begs the question, why now? 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 that they have realised moaning about how awful being a member of the Royal Family is, isn’t such a great strategy after all?’
The source noted that any invitation may not go down well with other senior royals, including the Prince of Wales, whose relationship with his younger brother is now non-existent. There was much chatter in royal circles yesterday as to whether the Waleses would even be present if Harry and Meghan were invited, suddenly finding Christmas with the Middleton family looking all the more appealing.
Another royal insider suggested to the Mail they thought the king would be more likely to invite Harry and Meghan to visit him in Scotland over the New Year, when the Waleses would be at Anmer Hall, their Norfolk country home. ‘It would certainly have the advantage of killing two birds with one stone; extending an olive branch to one son without causing difficulty to the other,’ they said. There is also extreme wariness within the Royal Family after both the duke and duchess revealed details of private family conversations, calls and even text messages in their Oprah interview, Netflix documentary series and Harry’s own memoir. Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the latest reports.
But sources have previously told the Mail that the King will never ‘shut the door’ on his youngest son and believes that their relationship can be repaired, over time, behind closed doors. So the sudden flurry of briefings by Team Sussex have caused immense frustration in recent days, but King Charles has made clear that Harry — and his family — are welcome to stay on royal property if they come to the UK. ‘Christmas plans are normally nailed down by now as Sandringham isn’t a particularly big place and there’s not a lot of room for the entire extended family,’ another source cautioned. ‘It would be surprising for the Sussexes not to have received an invitation by now if there was going to be one. New Year in Scotland would be more likely. But as with anything to do with Harry and Meghan, let’s face it, anything can happen.’ Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12768409/prince-harry-meghan-markle-not-welcome-royal-christmas-dinner-insiders-claim.html?ito=msngallery
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