In April of last year, Prince Philip passed away after a long battle with being 99 years old.
A Covid-restricted state funeral was held, but now, Buckingham Palace — apparently confident that the world won’t be ravaged by the Sigma variant sometime around March — is planning a large, public memorial service for the spring.
There was a time when it looked as though the occasion would be doubly important, as it would allow the Queen to finally meet her youngest great-granddaughter, Lilibet.
Now, however, it looks as though Lili’s parents, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, are planning to sit this one out.
Yes, as we reported earlier this week, Harry and Meghan are concerned about security.
Specifically, they want the British government to provide them with a bodyguard detail during their time in the UK.
Since this service would come at taxpayer expense, the government has thus far met the request with a hard “no,” and it doesn’t seem like the Queen is pressuring Boris and company to change their minds.
Now, royal expert Ingrid Seward has suggested that the Queen might not view Meghan and Harry’s absence from the ceremony as such a bad thing.
“I think if they choose not to come then everyone will breathe a sigh of relief,” Seward told UK tabloid The Sun this week.
“It is thanks-giving for Prince Philip and we don’t want it turning into the Harry and Meghan show.”
Yes, everyone knows that the Queen wants to reunite with her grandson and finally lay eyes on Lilibet, but what Seward presupposes is … maybe she doesn’t?
Well, if there’s any truth to Seward’s claims, then it seems that the Queen might get exactly what she wants.
insiders have indicated that when it comes to the Harry question the government has no indication of “caving into his demands.”
And since doing so would be the politically unpopular move, in this case, Parliament will probably stand its ground.
That’s bad news for Prince Charles, who is reportedly “desperate to see his grandchildren,” but duty-bound to remain in the UK for now.
“The Prince of Wales has been saddened that he hasn’t had the opportunity to spend time with his grandchildren, which he really does miss,” one insider tells The Sun.
“He is a fantastic grandfather and loves playing the role immensely and it’s certainly fair to say he feels there is something missing from his life without the ability to get to know Harry’s children.”
Charles is reportedly so keen to spend some time with Harry and family that he’s made an offer which be sure to irritate the Queen:
“This is something he is hoping to remedy which is why he made the gesture for Harry, Meghan and the children to stay with him if they wanted to, whenever they may come home for a period of time,” says the source.
Under normal circumstances, we doubt that the Queen would have any beef with the idea of Meg and Harry spending a few days at casa de Chuck.
But it seems that these days, she’s wary of anything that hints at a modicum of discord within the UK branch of the family.
Unfortunately, she’s unlikely to escape this current situation without generating a slew of new rumors about the increasingly dysfunctional Windsor clan.
#QueenProblems
Source: Read Full Article