Queen Elizabeth II has been gone for almost a year, and her family still doesn’t seem to be able to get along.
The longest-ruling king of Britain died on September 8, 2022, at the age of 96. Prince Harry, her grandson, is in the U.K. to attend a charity awards event, so it’s unlikely that the whole family will get together.
The Duke of Sussex has been a supporter of the U.K. charity Well Child for a long time. On Sept. 7, he will go to London for the charity’s yearly ceremony to honor the achievements of seriously ill young people. His wife, Meghan Markle, is not likely to come with him.
There is no official word yet on whether or not the Duke of Sussex will see any of his family members while he’s in the U.K. Fox News Digital asked Buckingham Palace and the 38-year-old prince for comment, but they didn’t reply right away.
Kinsey Schofield, host of the “To Di For Daily” show, told Fox News Digital that the Prince and Princess of Wales don’t want to meet with Harry, with or without Meghan Markle. “They don’t trust each other at all, and they don’t want what was said to be told to anyone else.”
“Prince William probably doesn’t want Prince Harry to come,” she said. “Especially when William and Catherine are expected to make a public statement about the queen’s death date. Harry will definitely be a distraction, and he will make news that aren’t what the palace wants to see. He will be punished no matter what he does. Even though he is in a tough spot, Harry seems to be putting charity first right now. I’m not surprised by how much he wants to go.
“Prince Harry will probably talk about the late queen in his WellChild Awards speech,” Schofield said. “From there, he will probably go quickly to Düsseldorf to start the Invictus Games…. It is not likely that the Duke of Sussex will go to Balmoral.”
Hilary Fordwich, who knows a lot about the British royal family, told Fox News Digital that Harry’s trip to his home country will be short. She also said that the Duke of Sussex won’t go to Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where his father, King Charles III, and his wife, Queen Camilla, are living right now. She said that the king won’t be doing anything public while he grieves for his mother, so he will keep a low profile.
The queen died at the Scottish country home she loved so much.
“Prince Harry won’t be meeting with either his father or his brother,” she said. “The king will spend the day thinking, just like his mother did on February 6, the day her father, King George VI, died. She spent that day in Sandringham. Prince William and Kate will go to Wales to honor the late queen. William will be there with Kate.
“Harry will be in England to speak at the WellChild ceremony in London the day before the first anniversary of the queen’s death,” said Fordwich. “But he will then fly straight to the Invictus Games in Düsseldorf, Germany, which start on September 9, where his wife, Meghan, will join him.” “It doesn’t look like things will get better between Harry and William any time soon. The older royals are letting the space between them in the U.K. act as a buffer.
British royal commentator Jonathan Sacerdoti told Fox News Digital, “I think the queen’s family will celebrate the anniversary quietly and privately, which makes sense.” “Some of the most important royals will be at Balmoral, where they will likely think about the event in private. There won’t be a public event to mark the occasion, but Prince William and Princess Catherine will visit St. David’s Cathedral in South Wales before going to other places in the area. People say that they will send a message to the country to remember the late queen’s legacy, but we don’t know how that message will be sent.
“Prince Harry is going to be in the U.K., but it doesn’t look like he’ll be going to see his dad or brother,” said Sacerdoti. “He will be at a charity event the day before and will fly to Germany to start the Invictus Games the day after the anniversary. The late queen used to go to church in Sandringham on the date of her father’s death. It’s possible that Charles and Camilla will do the same thing on the occasion of his mother’s birth.
Last year, Harry skipped the same charity awards show because it was on September 8, the day the queen died. He instead took a plane to Scotland to be with other royal family members there. At this year’s ceremony, Harry is expected to meet with winners at the reception before giving a speech and giving one of the awards.
WellChild helps kids and teens who have long-term health needs. It gives out yearly awards to bring attention to their problems and honor the people who help them.
Markle, a 42-year-old former American actor, married the British prince in 2018 and became the Duchess of Sussex. In 2020, the couple gave up their top royal roles. At the time, they said that the media was being racist toward the duchess and that the house wasn’t helping.
In 2021, after moving to California, the couple talked to Oprah Winfrey about their problems on TV. Late in 2022, a six-part Netflix documentary about them came out. It told the story of how they met and how hard it was to be a royal couple. Then, Harry’s book “Spare” came out in January of this year. It showed how he had competed with William, the heir to the throne, for a long time and how sad he was when his mother, Princess Diana, died.
Schofield said that even though the 74-year-old king decided to spend the sad day alone, she wouldn’t be surprised if he was thinking about his younger son.
Close-up of Prince Andrew dressed in royal clothes.
The Duke of York, Prince Andrew, was recently seen at Balmoral. (WireImage/Karwai Tang)
“Recent news stories say that King Charles “ruled against Prince William” to let Prince Andrew back into the family… “I wonder if the king misses his youngest son and wants to find peace and stability,” said Schofield. “It’s hard to understand why Andrew, who is such a huge PR nightmare, would be accepted back so quickly with open arms.
At Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as well as the Prince and Princess of Wales, all looked sad.
The Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. It was the last time anyone saw them all together in public. (Emilio Morenatti, via WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Christopher Andersen, who wrote the book “The King,” told Fox News Digital that rumors that the royal family won’t meet with Harry don’t surprise him. He said that all of the royals are deciding to do their jobs first. And there are no plans for so-called peace talks, at least not any time soon.
Harry has been a WellChild patron for 15 years and has been to 11 of the organization’s award events. In 2018 and 2019, his wife went with him to the awards. People magazine said that it was one of the few things he kept from his royal life after he left in 2020.
Before the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s death, Prince Harry will go back to the UK without Meghan Markle.
A close-up of Meghan Markle wearing a green dress and a camel-colored coat.
On October 15, 2019, in London, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, goes to the WellChild awards at the Royal Lancaster Hotel. The mother of two is not likely to attend this year’s event with Prince Harry. (Max Mumby/Index/Getty Images))
“Harry is just passing through town on his way to the Invictus Games in Germany,” Andersen said. “He doesn’t want to meet with his royal family members any more than they want to meet with him. Both sides have made it clear that they are moving on and that even a sad event like the one-year anniversary of the late queen’s death can’t bring them back together. This is still at a standstill.”
