Today marks three years since the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
It is a day the country will never forget and one that brought about personal tragedy as the Royal Family lost the matriarch who had led the firm for 70 years.
But on the sidelines of the tragedy a small domestic drama was playing out involving Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Royal sources have claimed that King Charles III reportedly told Harry not to bring Meghan with him to the Queen’s deathbed in Balmoral.
When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex received word on September 8 2022 that the Queen was unwell they happened to be in the country.
The Sussexes then prompted an unprecedented flurry behind the scenes by announcing that Harry and Meghan would both be travelling to Balmoral.
Sources claim that Harry was at Frogmore Cottage when he received a call from his father asking him not to bring Meghan.
‘Charles told Harry that it wasn’t right or appropriate for Meghan to be in Balmoral at such a deeply sad time,’ a source said at the time.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle after Queen Elizabeth II coffin was brought to lie in state at Westminster Hall. After the Queen died Harry and Meghan were at the centre of a royal domestic drama
Harry on his way to Balmoral shortly after the Queen had passed away. The Duke of Sussex wanted to brig Meghan with him but his father said no
The last photo of Queen Elizabeth II taken the day before she died
‘It was pointed out to him that Kate was not going and that the numbers really should be limited to the very closest family.
‘Charles made it very, very clear Meghan would not be welcome.’
News of their plans came via the small group of media the Sussexes deem it appropriate to deal with and shared online by journalists at 1.53pm. The statement read: ‘From a spokesperson: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be travelling to Scotland.’
This was, of course, news to the Palace and it did not go down well. Many behind royal walls, frankly, were incredulous.
There was half an hour on Thursday following the Sussexes’ initial announcement during which matters quickly came to a head.
It is still unclear how much pressure was brought to bear by the Palace itself – or whether senior royal were involved – but a spokesman for the couple frantically began to ‘clarify’ their position, informing those same journalists that ‘only the duke was travelling at the moment’.
Exactly what happened is open to speculation. Some say that Harry and Meghan hadn’t considered that William’s wife wouldn’t be there, with Kate staying in London instead, and when it was pointed out that she wouldn’t be, they realised how bad it looked.
Others believe Meghan was effectively banned, using the argument that Kate was staying at home.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the late Queen’s funeral. A source claimed that ‘Charles made it very, very clear Meghan would not be welcome’ at Balmoral
The Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle and Queen Consort Camilla Parker-Bowles
Harry and Meghan behind Prince William and Kate Middleton after the Queen’s body arrived to lie in state at Westminster Hall
Either way, their hurried announcement that only Harry would be making the trip north from the capital prompted a sigh of relief among aides.
Harry would later claim in his memoir, Spare, that the reasons his father gave for not bringing Meghan ‘didn’t make any sense, and actually they were disrespectful. I didn’t tolerate it.’
Harry relented when Charles made clear that none of the other wives – such as Kate – would be attending.
Tragically for the Duke of Sussex, he would arrive too late to say a final goodbye to is grandmother.
His private jet arrived at 7.52pm an hour and a half after the palace’s historic statement informing the nation of the death of Her Majesty.
It was noticeable at the time there was no invitation for Harry to join the family party that left from RAF Northolt bound for Aberdeen.
Writing in his memoir, Spare, Harry revealed that he first heard the Queen had died via BBC News.
‘When the plane started to descend I saw that my phone lit up. It was a message from Meg: ‘Call me when you get this.’
Charles and Harry at Windsor Castle shortly after the late Queen’s committal service at St George’s Chapel. Harry would later claim that the reasons his father gave for not bringing Meghan ‘didn’t make any sense, and actually they were disrespectful. I didn’t tolerate it’
‘I looked at the BBC website. My grandmother had died. My father was King,’ writes Harry.
Another Sussex-related drama played out just days later when, in a show of unity, Harry and Meghan joined William and Kate for a walkabout at Windsor.
The united front came just two years after Harry and Meghan dramatically stepped down as working royals and a year on from the couple’s controversial interview with Oprah Winfrey.
As they greeted well wishers and inspected the floral tributes left outside the palace gates these differences appeared to be water under the bridge.
But this was not the case and according to one royal author the simmering tensions between both camps meant it was ‘one of the hardest things’ Kate has ever had to do.
Writing in his book – titled Our King – Robert Jobson revealed that the joint walkabout had been William’s but a source told the veteran royal correspondent that this show of unity was an ‘illusion’ with the Princess of Wales finding it particularly difficult.
Jobson wrote: ‘Catherine later admitted to a senior royal that, such was the ill feeling between the two couples, the joint walkabout was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do.’
Harry and Meghan then stayed in the UK for nearly three weeks until the late Queen’s funeral took place on September 19 2022.
Kate Middleton alongside Prince William, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle outside Windsor Castle following the death of Queen Elizabeth II
The Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex inspect floral tribute outside WIndsor castle. Their appearance together was a surprising show of unity
Royal author Robert Jobson wrote that the royal walkabout was ‘one of the hardest things’ the Princess of Wales has ever had to do
During the ceremony an emotional Meghan was spotted wiping a tear from her eye as she waited outside Westminster Abbey alongside Queen Camilla and Kate.
She then joined other members of the family for a sombre procession behind the Queen’s coffin before taking her seat alongside Harry for the service.
Speaking recently on the second season of With Love, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex spoke about how being away from Archie and Lillibet for almost three weeks made her ‘not well’.
Meghan made the candid remark during a discussion about parenthood with fashion designer and Queer Eye host Tan France.
‘The longest I went without being around our kids was almost three weeks. I was not well,’ Meghan said.
While it was not directly revealed which absence Meghan was talking about, in his memoir – Spare – Harry wrote that the Queen’s death and funeral was a ‘difficult’ time and the time he was separated from his children was ‘longer than we’d ever been’.
Meghan comforts Harry as they inspect floral tributes. The royal walkabout came just two years after Harry and Meghan dramatically stepped down as working royals and a year on from the couple’s controversial interview with Oprah Winfrey
Meanwhile,following the so-called ‘peace summit’ in July, where images of Harry and Meghan’s press secretary meeting with King Charles’s communications secretary were revealed by The Mail On Sunday, the rift between the Sussexes and the Windsors does appear to be finally healing.
This month, King Charles III is expected to meet with Harry for the first time in 20 months.
The Duke of Sussex is expected in London on September 8 for the third anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s death where he will also attend the WellChild Awards – a charity event he has avidly supported.
