In his memoir “Spare” published in 2023, Prince Harry (40 years old) recounted the events that took place on September 8, 2022, the day Queen Elizabeth II died. He was invited to Balmoral Palace to see her for the last time, but King Charles did not allow Meghan Markle to go with him, even though they were both in England at the time.
Harry wrote: “He said I was welcome at Balmoral, but he didn’t want… her. He started giving reasons, which sounded ridiculous and disrespectful, and I couldn’t accept.”
The Duke of Sussex was outraged and told his father bluntly: “Never talk about your wife and children like that.” King Charles later stammered an apology, explaining that he didn’t want too many people, and since Princess Kate wasn’t coming, Meghan shouldn’t come either.
Harry recounted in his memoir: “He stammered, apologizing, saying he simply didn’t want too many people. None of the other wives had come, Kate hadn’t come, he said, so Meg shouldn’t come either.”
Harry also had difficulty getting to Balmoral that day due to limited contact with other members of the Royal Family. He was forced to make his own way to Scotland and ended up arriving too late. Harry shared the moment he realised his grandmother had been born: “As the plane started to land, I saw my phone light up. It was a message from Meg saying, ‘Call me when you hear this’. I saw the news on the BBC. My grandmother had died. My father was King.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral
Despite not initially being invited to Balmoral on the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, Meghan Markle later attended the funeral with other members of the Royal Family. The Queen’s funeral was also Meghan’s last appearance in the UK. Harry has since returned to the UK alone several times, including to visit his father in February after news of King Charles’ cancer was revealed and to attend the 2024 WellChild Awards this September.