Harry missed seeing queen amid confusion about Meghan’s travel plans

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may regret an earlier decision to not take time out of their trip to Europe this week to visit his grandmother at Balmoral Castle, because the queen’s health took a sudden turn for the worse Thursday and her death was announced as Harry’s plane was on its way to Scotland and after confusion grew about whether Meghan would accompany him.

Harry wasn’t the only senior royal to miss being with Elizabeth II in her last hours. Prince William, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and his wife Sophie had caught an earlier flight to Aberdeen Thursday, but it’s understood they didn’t make it in time to see her before she died, the Daily Mail said. Only the queen’s eldest children, the new King Charles III and Princess Anne, who were already in Scotland, were able to see her before her death, sources told the Daily Mail.

The Duke of Sussex arrived at Balmoral later than the others, nearly an hour-and-a-half after his grandmother’s death was announced at 6:30 p.m. in the U.K., the Daily Mail reported. Harry, who now lives in California, was in his home country to attend a charity event in London Thursday night, but he suddenly had to change plans and get to Balmoral as soon as possible after learning that his 96-year-old grandmother’s health had worsened.

Initially, a spokesperson for the Sussexes announced at about 1:30 p.m. that Meghan would accompany her husband to Balmoral, the Daily Mail said. This was about an hour after Buckingham Palace made the unprecedented announcement that doctors were “concerned” about the queen’s health. This unusual statement about the queen’s health was seen as giving the public warning that the situation was very serious, the Daily Mail said.

Then came a late “change of plan” for the Sussexes, and sources close to the couple told journalists at about 4:30 p.m. that Meghan would stay in London, the Daily Mail said. It’s not clear why Meghan decided not to go to Balmoral, but BBC’s royal correspondent, Nicholas Witchell, said on air that she might have realized that members of the royal family, from whom she and Harry have become estranged, would not appreciate seeing her at such a difficult time, the Daily Mail said.

“She might not be terribly warmly welcomed, to be perfectly candid about it,” Witchell said, per the Daily Mail.

Duncan Larcombe, a former royal editor of British tabloid the Sun and a biographer of Prince Harry, told The Daily Beast that Meghan “may have made a very sensible decision not to intrude on the family’s grief.”

Larcombe also said it’s possible that Charles, Harry’s father, asked his controversial daughter-in-law not to come, Larcombe added.

Two hours after it was learned that Meghan would stay in London, the royal family confirmed that the queen had died “peacefully” at her beloved Scottish estate after 70 years on the throne. Harry landed at the airport 15 minutes later, but didn’t make it to Balmoral until close to 8 p.m., the Daily Mail said.

Larcombe said it was “strange” that Harry somehow wasn’t able to travel on the flight to Scotland carrying William, Edward, Sophie and Andrew. That flight arrived several hours earlier than Harry’s.

Buckingham Palace declined to respond to a Daily Beast’s inquiry about why no room could be found on that flight, or why the announcement about the queen’s death wasn’t held until Harry arrived at Balmoral.

The Daily Beast said it’s likely that Harry’s late arrival will be interpreted by some as a snub or as further evidence of the ongoing bad blood between the Sussexes and the royal family.

Harry and Meghan traveled from their California home to Europe this week for a series of visits with several longstanding charitable organizations.

The Sussexes had no plans to visit the queen in Scotland during their whirlwind visit to the U.K. and Germany, according to U.K. reports. The couple also were not expected to have any contact with Harry’s older brother, William, or his wife, Kate Middleton, even though they were staying at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor Great Park, a short distance from the Cambridges’ new home there, reports also said.

Harry and William, once close, have been estranged since Harry and Meghan stepped away from royal life and moved to the United States. Harry and Meghan’s relationship with his family has become even more fraught and possibly non-existent in some cases after the couple began making a series of public revelations about life in the royal family.

From their interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, through Meghan’s more recent disclosures on her new Spotify podcast and in New York’s magazine’s The Cut, the couple have accused the royals of harboring a racist family member, as well as being repressive, dysfunctional and antiquated. In 6,500-word profile of Meghan in The Cut, which was published 10 days before the queen’s death, Meghan claimed that “just by existing” she and Harry “were upsetting the dynamic of the hierarchy”.

The American duchess also suggested her husband had “lost” his father in the process of leaving royal life and spoke of her relief at being “able to tell (my) own story” before issuing what some interpreted as a threat to the royal family when she warned that she was free to “say anything” and said it was taking “a lot of effort” to forgive them and her own estranged family.

Harry also made controversial comments to the “Today” show in April about his relationship with his grandmother. He emphasized that he and Meghan were very close to the queen, with the couple naming their 1-year-old daughter Lilibet after the queen’s childhood nickname. Harry also somewhat arrogantly said the monarch could talk to him about things “she can’t talk about with anyone else” and that it was up to him — not any of his family members who lived close to her in the U.K. — to ensure she is “protected” and has the “right people around her.”

The Sussexes were scheduled to attend the WellChild Awards in London Thursday night. Harry was expected to make a speech at the awards ceremony, which honors the deeds of seriously ill children, before he cancelled the appearance.

Meghan wasn’t the only royal wife to not accompany her husband to Balmoral. The Duchess of Cambridge also did not travel to Balmoral, but her reasons don’t have anything to do with strained family relationships. She stayed behind in Windsor to take care of her and William’s three children on their first day of school.

This story has been updated to include reporting about Prince Charles and Princess Anne being with their mother in her final moments,