After participating in the beginning of the celebrations for the Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left England amid the indifference of the royal family.
Harry and Markle invited Prince William, Kate Middleton and her children to their daughter Lilibet's first birthday party as a way to get closer, but the royal family did not attend, the Magazine site reported this Monday.
In the midst of the brothers' current conflictive relationship due to the Sussexes' statements on television, Meghan and Prince Harry invited the Cambridges to the party at their United Kingdom home, Frogmore Cottage, in Windsor, on Saturday. But the Cambridges and two of their three children, Prince George, 8, and Princess Charlotte, 7, were in Wales that day taking part in the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The Sussexes returned to California without spending time alone with William and his family. “Things are still tense: William is still wary of spending time alone with Harry, as you never know what may be reported next,” a source told the aforementioned media.
The royal couple quietly left the United Kingdom on Sunday, amid the celebrations.
However, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wished Lili a happy birthday on Instagram, as did the rest of the royal family. The royal's Twitter account posted a balloon emoji and the message: "Wishing Lilibet a very happy first birthday!"
Her grandfather, Prince Charles, and her wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, also posted a message for the girl's birthday that she met her great-grandmother.
And the Sussexes, who attended two of the Jubilee events, spent Lili's birthday with a party at their Windsor home. As The Sun reported, Zara and Mike Tindall's children (Mia, 8, Lena, 3, and Lucas, 1), along with Peter Phillips and Autumn Kelly's daughters (Savannah, 11, and Isla, 10), attended the birthday party. Other guests included Archie's godfather, Charlie Van Straubenzee, and his brother Tom, who is Princess Charlotte's godfather.
It was Lili's first visit to the UK and her brother Archie's, 3, first trip back since the family left Harry's homeland for the US in March 2020 after resigning from their official positions. in the British royal family.
The prince and his wife Meghan Markle appeared Thursday in a discreet public return during the parade that began Elizabeth II's jubilee.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, excluded from the balcony of Buckingham Palace as they are now “non-active” members of royalty, remained invisible to the broadcasts of the “Trooping the Color” parade.
The tabloids, however, showed photos of Meghan, dressed in a dark dress and large white hat, talking to Harry, whose dark suit contrasted with the traditional military uniform worn by her father Charles and her older brother William during the parade.
Under the ringing of the cathedral bells, the monarch's grandson, 37 years old, arrived dressed in a morning suit and gray tie, wearing all of his decorations.
Smiling but tense, the 40-year-old former American actress was dressed very elegantly in a trench coat and skirt - between gray and beige - from the Dior Haute Couture brand, and matching hat, gloves and shoes.
The crowd received them with a mixture of cheers and boos, illustrating the conflicting opinions that arouse in the United Kingdom.
The youngest son of Prince Charles, 37, returned to the United Kingdom several times since “Megxit”, which marked the divorce between the couple and the monarchy: for the funeral of the queen's husband, Philip, in April 2021, and then for the inauguration of a statue with the effigy of his mother Diana.
With Meghan, he also paid a brief visit to the queen, ahead of the Invictus Games in the Netherlands in April. But the couple did it secretly.
For Prince Philip's funeral, Meghan stayed in Montecito, the Californian coastal town where they reside, as she was seven months pregnant with her daughter, Lilibet.
In the United Kingdom, the couple is very unpopular (63% unfavorable opinions, according to the YouGov institute) and it is also unpopular for the tabloids, which do not miss the opportunity to criticize them.
“Their departure has left the feeling that they have turned their backs not only on the country, but on the queen, on the institution,” Omid Scobie, author of a book about the couple, recently said. “They are hated, and I think anything they do will be amplified in a very negative way,” he added.
