Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have reportedly been left off the guest list for Hugh Grosvenor’s upcoming wedding.
The Duke of Westminster, who is the rumoured godfather of the couple’s son Prince Archie, is set to wed Olivia Henson on June 7th, 2024 at Chester Cathedral in northwest England.
According to The Sunday Times, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex haven’t received an invite to the nuptials, despite Hugh being a longtime friend of Harry’s.
While Harry and Meghan have been snubbed, its understood Prince William, Kate Middleton, and King Charles III have been invited to the ceremony.
Hugh is a childhood friend of both William and Harry, and is also godfather to the Prince of Wales’ eldest child, Prince George.
A ‘friend’ told the outlet: “It’s incredibly sad it has come to this. Hugh is one of the very few close friends of William and Harry’s who has maintained strong bonds and a line of communication with both.
“He wishes they could put their heads together and patch things up, but realises it’s unlikely to happen before the wedding.”
“He wanted to avoid anything overshadowing the day, especially for Olivia, and doesn’t want any awkwardness.”
In a statement to People, a spokesperson for the Duke of Westminster said: “We are not in a position to comment on the guest list.”
Tensions between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Royal family reached fever pitch last week, following the release of Omid Scobie’s new book Endgame.
Early in the week, copies of Endgame were urgently pulled from shelves in the Netherlands due to a translation “error”.
In a statement, publishers Xander said: “[We are] temporarily withdrawing the book by Omid Scobie from sale. An error occurred in the Dutch translation and is currently being rectified.”
According to the MailOnline, the Dutch version of the book named two members of the Royal family who allegedly questioned the skin colour of Prince Harry and Meghan’s son before he was born.
In March 2021, the Duchess of Sussex told Oprah Winfrey in a televised interview that a member of the Royal family had raised “concerns” about Archie’s skin colour.
The couple refused to reveal who had made the comments at the time.
Scobie has insisted he never mentioned their names in any version of the book, and has denied this is a publicity stunt to sell copies.
He told the chatshow RTL Boulevard: “The book is in several languages, and unfortunately I do not speak Dutch. But if there are translation errors, the publisher will correct them.
“I wrote the English version. There was no version from me in which names were mentioned.”
The book claims that Meghan previously wrote a letter to King Charles, who was the Prince of Wales at the time, expressing her concerns about unconscious bias in the royal family.
According to Scobie, the letters revealed the identity of two people that allegedly took part in conversations about Archie’s skin colour.
In the book, he writes: “Laws in the United Kingdom prevent me from reporting who they were.”
But after their names appeared in the Dutch version of the book, Piers Morgan dramatically shared their identities on live TV in the UK.
Speaking on his TalkTV show Uncensored on Wednesday evening, the presenter revealed the names of the two royals caught up in the racism row.
The 58-year-old said he wanted to reveal their names in order to allow an “open debate” on what really happened.
He also said he did not believe “any racist comments were ever made by any members of the Royal family”.
According to The Telegraph, Buckingham Palace is now considering taking legal action.
Omid Scobie has denied he interviewed Harry or Meghan for the book, but has confirmed they have “mutual friends”.
During a recent interview with The Times, he said: “I have mutual friends with [Meghan], and that definitely helps with getting information and breaking details.”
