EXCLUSIVE: Meghan Markle is set to be “conspicuously absent” again this coming week when Prince Harry reunites with his ailing father King Charles.
Meghan Markle is set to snub the UK as Prince Harry heads to meet King Charles. (Image: Getty)
Meghan Markle will snub the UK as sources say she is “done” with the country because she “doesn’t want the drama” of dealing with the Royal Family.
Prince Harry will fly alone to the UK to attend a Wednesday afternoon service at St. Paul’s Cathedral to mark the tenth anniversary of his Invictus Games before privately meeting King Charles afterwards.
The Duchess of Sussex will, however, jet out of LA the following day to join Harry in Nigeria for talks with leaders of the West African nation about hosting future Invictus events for injured military personnel.
The couple’s spokesman confirmed she will not accompany her husband to St. Paul’s and will completely bypass the London leg of his trip, staying home with their children following a planned fifth birthday party on Monday for Prince Archie.
No official reason was given for Meghan skipping Britain, which she has only briefly visited three times since she and Harry departed for California in June 2020.
Prince Harry is set to return to the UK next week and will meet with King Charles. (Image: Getty)
But her snub comes after sources close to the Duchess have previously been quoted as saying she is “done” with the UK and “doesn’t want the drama” of having to deal with the Royal Family.
Buckingham Palace has declined to formally comment about Harry’s visit but one senior aide observed: “Her conspicuous absence from all his recent trips has been noted. This time she will be missing a key event in Harry’s Invictus diary as well as the opportunity to offer support to her father-in-law.”
Meghan, 42, is also preparing for the imminent launch of her new lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard with a planned media blitz that is likely to include a string of “soft” interviews on daytime TV chat shows.
But the aide added: “It strikes me as odd that she doesn’t have time to come to England where, however she feels about them, she does have family. But she does have time to join Harry in Africa. I think that speaks volumes.”
The Prince, 39, is expected to reunite with King Charles, 75, early Wednesday evening following his St. Paul’s service and his father’s first Buckingham Palace garden party of the year following his return to royal duties.
The two met in February, days after the King’s cancer diagnosis, but spent barely half an hour together before Charles departed with Queen Camilla for treatment and recuperation at Sandringham.
Prince Harry is said to have been “very regularly in touch” with his father since then, but aides deem it “highly unlikely” he will also this week see his estranged brother Prince William or sister-in-law Princess Kate, who revealed her own cancer diagnosis in March.
On Thursday, Harry is due to fly on to Nigeria, where he will meet up with Meghan prior to talks with leaders of the West African nation about hosting a future Invictus Games.
Their visit will include “cultural activities,” according to the country’s defence spokesman Brig. Gen. Tukur Gusau, as well as “consolidating Nigeria’s stronghold at the games and the possibility of hosting the event in later years.”