Harry, in his memoir Spare, recalled the moment his father delivered the news. The Duke of Sussex had been preparing to fly with Meghan to Scotland when Charles intervened, making it clear that Meghan was not welcome. The reason? “No other wives were coming,” Charles reportedly explained, citing Kate Middleton’s decision to stay behind with her children as justification.
A Convenient Excuse or a Deliberate Move? Royal insiders now claim that Kate’s absence provided a convenient cover to prevent Meghan from attending without explicitly singling her out. Harry himself admitted that upon hearing that Kate would also not be traveling, his anger momentarily subsided. However, he still confronted his father over what he described as a “nonsensical and disrespectful” request, warning him: “Don’t ever speak about my wife that way.”Behind the Scenes: A Palace Divided Hardman’s book sheds further light on the behind-the-scenes chaos as Queen Elizabeth’s final hours approached. He claims that despite moments like this usually prompting seamless coordination among royal households, there was a distinct lack of communication between the Sussexes and the rest of the family. Notably, William and Harry—already estranged—had no direct contact that day, and there were no efforts made by the Sussexes’ aides to reach out to William’s team.
With emotions still raw from the Sussexes’ explosive Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021, tensions ran high. Hardman notes that members of the royal family were still reeling from “vague, unanswerable half-claims of institutional racism and hostility towards Meghan,” leaving little room for reconciliation. Did King Charles Fear Another Public Fallout? While Charles may have framed Meghan’s exclusion as a practical decision, Hardman suggests that the true reason ran deeper—an underlying fear that any conversation or action could later be exposed to the public. And he was right. Just three months later, Harry revealed the exchange in Spare, reigniting the controversy. The late Queen’s death was supposed to be a moment of unity for the royal family. Instead, it became another chapter in the ongoing royal rift, with Meghan’s absence at Balmoral leaving yet another question mark over whether the divide can ever be mended.