A new report has claimed Prince Harry “turned down” an invite to his childhood friend’s wedding to avoid an awkward family reunion.
Over the weekend, The Sunday Times reported that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex weren’t invited to Hugh Grosvenor’s wedding to Olivia Henson next June.
The news came as a surprise, as the Duke of Westminster is a longtime friend of Harry’s, and the rumoured godfather of the couple’s son Prince Archie.
While Harry and Meghan were reportedly snubbed, the newspaper claimed that Prince William, Kate Middleton, King Charles, and Queen Camilla were 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.”
However, Page Six has since reported that Harry did receive a ‘Save the Date’ card for Hugh’s wedding – but he decided it would be best if he and Meghan didn’t attend.
A source told the outlet: “Harry actually got a ‘save the date’ card a few months ago but called Hugh and said it would be too awkward if he and Meghan Markle attended, so he made his apologies and Hugh understood.”
It would have been the first meeting between Meghan and the Royal family since the funeral of Queen Elizabeth in September 2022.
Harry’s decision was made well before the release of Omid Scobie’s new book Endgame, which has caused fresh drama between Harry and his family.
Tensions between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Royal family reached fever pitch last week, following the release of Scobie’s new book about the British royals.
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.”
