PRINCE Harry and Meghan Markle will never be invited to a family reunions for TWO key reasons, says a royal expert.
Sarah Hewson, royal correspondent, told The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show how the current state of family affairs is “a mess, and it’s a very sorry mess”.
Speaking about the upcoming royal summer break at Balmoral, The Sun’s Royal Editor Matt Wilkinson asked whether Harry and Meghan would be receiving an invite.
“We’re always told the King’s door is always open, but would they be invited?,” responded the royal expert.
We know things with the Waleses and the Sussexes are extremely tense. I don’t see any signs of any thawing there – and it’s really not a priority.
Sarah Hewson
“I don’t see an actual physical invitation being issued but were they to ask, it would be very difficult for the King to say no.
“He doesn’t want this distance with his son, and he certainly doesn’t want this barrier between him and his grandchildren.
“He’s met Lilibet once, Archie just a handful of times. That’s really, really sad. Obviously geography pays a part in that, we aren’t going to see the King jumping on a plane to California to see them.
“We know things with the Waleses and the Sussexes are extremely tense. I don’t see any signs of any thawing there – and it’s really not a priority.
“One of the things the Waleses really want to focus on now is keeping things calm, stress levels down, during the Princess‘ recuperation.
“I really don’t think a reunion with Harry and Meghan is going to do anything for stress levels, and it’s just not there focus.”
She added: “There have been suggestions that there will be this huge full family summit and everybody gathered to thrash things once and for all, I don’t buy into that. I can’t see that happening.
“And all the signs around Meghan are that she doesn’t really have any desire to set foot in this country again.”
Ms Hewson highlighted Harry’s return to the UK for his Invictus Games 10th anniversary celebration at St Paul’s Cathedral.
Meghan however, did not attend, and controversy shrouded the duke’s visit.
Frankly it’s a mess, and it’s a very sorry mess
Sarah Hewson
Harry’s spokesperson claimed the King had been “too busy” to accommodate a meeting with his son amid a hectic schedule.
However, sources close to the palace suggested an olive branch had been extended to the duke – and turned down.
Insiders claimed Harry was offered a place to stay within a royal residence, but chose a hotel instead.
“Frankly it’s a mess, and it’s a very sorry mess,” added Ms Hewson.
A timeline of Prince Harry and William's 'feud': Brothers 'at war'
In 2018, the Sun told how “simmering tension” began when William questioned the speed of Harry and Meghan’s engagement.
The first hints of friction reportedly came after William was introduced to Meghan when she was staying at Kensington Palace.
Once she’d returned home to Canada, William and Harry sat down for a brother-to-brother chat.
He knew Harry was already head-over-heels for her but it has been claimed he advised him to take it slowly.
The younger prince reportedly didn’t take too kindly to the advice, with one royal source saying he “went mental”.
Then in June 2019 Harry and Meghan officially split off from the charity they shared with William and Kate.
The Royal Foundation will be divided between the Sussexes and Cambridges as the couples focus on their own separate charitable endeavours.
Prince William and Prince Harry first established the Royal Foundation in 2009 before Kate joined two years later shortly after their engagement was announced.
The trio would often appear together at events and the Foundation had huge successes with projects like the Invictus Games for injured veterans and the mental health Heads Together campaign.
The Royal Foundation said the decision was made following the conclusion of a review into its structure – but added both couples will continue to work together in the future.
Harry and Meg were living in close proximity to Kate and Wills within the Kensington Palace estate, but they switched to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor before baby Archie was born.
The move further increased rumours of a fallout.
Harry, 39, also hinted in his ITV documentary “Harry and Meghan, An African Journey” that he and his brother had grown apart.
It came after Prince Philip called Meghan the “D.O.W” after the Duchess of Windsor — the American divorcee who led Edward VIII to abdicate.
And he warned the late Queen to be “cautious” of Harry’s then bride-to-be, a royal author claims.
Ingrid Seward revealed in new book My Mother And I that Prince Philip felt it was “uncanny…how much Meghan reminded him of the Duchess of Windsor“.
In 2021, Harry and Meghan give their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey where Harry accused his dad of cutting him off financially.
Harry then jetted back to UK to join William in unveiling a statue to their mother Princess Diana in the grounds of Kensington Palace. But sources claimed William didn’t want to attend the memorial amid their ongoing rift.
In 2022, just before their grandmother the Queen died, sources claimed Kate acts as a “peacemaker” between the brothers.
Last year Harry claimed his brother “knocked him to the floor” during an argument about Meghan.
In his book Spare, Harry said William branded Meghan “rude” and “difficult” during a row.
Harry alleged William “grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and … knocked me to the floor”.
He said he was left with a visible injury to his back following the argument in 2019 at Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace, where he was living at the time.
In January this year, Harry flew in to be with Charles after the monarch’s shock cancer diagnosis.
Harry flew back to the US the following day – without seeing Wills.
It comes as the Royal Family prepare to spend some quality time with each other at Balmoral this summer.
Prince William and Princess Kate will also head to Norfolk beforehand which has been a haven for the family amid the royal’s cancer shock.
The Balmoral gathering offers the perfect chance to recuperate after what has been a “tumultuous year”, said Ms Hewson.
In the past seven months both King Charles and Kate have bravely opened up about their health battles.
In January His Majesty underwent corrective prostate surgery at The London Clinic, at the same time as Kate was admitted for major abdominal surgery.
By the following month, Charles shared he had been diagnosed with cancer following his operation.
He has since been undergoing chemotherapy treatment while still courageously carrying out royal duties.
In March, Kate then announced her own cancer shock, and remained out of the public eye.
But, the royal mum-of-three made a spectacular come back last month at Trooping the Colour.
How the royals have been rocked by health battles this year
THE past few months have seen members of the royal family struck down by various health battles. Here is a rundown:
JANUARY 16: Kate is admitted to the London Clinic for abdominal surgery.
JAN 17: It is announced that the King is to have treatment for a benign enlarged prostate.
JAN 18: William spends time at Kate’s bedside.JAN 19: The King flies back from Scotland with the Queen.
JAN 21: It is announced Sarah, Duchess of York, has malignant melanoma, a skin cancer.
JAN 23: Kate’s hospital stay passes one week.
JAN 26: The King is admitted to the London Clinic for treatment.
JAN 29: The King is discharged from hospital. Kate leaves the same day.
JAN 31: Queen Camilla announces that the King is “getting on, doing his best”.
FEBRUARY 5: Buckingham Palace announces the King has cancer, but not of the prostate, and will not carry out public-facing duties.
FEB 18: The King appears in good spirits as he attends a Sunday church service in the grounds of Sandringham.
FEB 23: The King filmed crying and chuckling while opening some of the 7,000 cards from well-wishers.
FEB 27: Prince William pulls out of service last-minute due to ‘personal matter’, sparking wave of unfounded conspiracy theories about Kate’s health.
MARCH 4: Kate Middleton pictured in the car with mum Carole on the Windsor estate.