Prince Harry and Meghan Markle snubbed of Balmoral invite – report

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been denied an invite to King Charles' Scottish retreat of Balmoral according to a new report from People.

The publication says that royal sources have confirmed to them that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have not been invited to spend the summer holidays with the monarch, which has been the case since they stepped down as senior members of the royal family in 2020.

Balmoral holds a special significance for the royals, with members of the family often heading to the Aberdeenshire-based castle during the summer holidays. Harry himself visited the area plenty of times when he was growing up and before heading to the United States.

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Balmoral was also a personal favourite place of the late Queen, who died at the Scottish castle on 8 September 2022.

The King is currently staying at the Sandringham estate, in Norfolk, where the royals typically spend the Christmas break. It's expected that when the monarch heads to Balmoral, he will extend an invitation to new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his wife, Victoria.

The apparent snub marks a further deterioration of the relationship between Harry and his father, despite the reported rift being slightly bridged earlier this year when the Duke visited Charles following the monarch's cancer diagnosis.

Earlier this week, People reported that Harry and Charles were no longer in contact with one another. "He gets 'unavailable right now,'" a friend of Harry's told the publication. "His calls go unanswered. He has tried to reach out about the King's health, but those calls go unanswered too."

Buckingham Palace refused to comment when asked by HELLO! about Harry and Charles' private contact.

Last week, Harry spoke about not wanting to bring his wife back to the United Kingdom over concerns about their safety.

READ: Everything Princess Kate has said about her sister-in-law Meghan Markle

MORE: Prince Harry and Meghan interrupt summer break to announce new royal tour

Speaking in an ITV documentary on tabloid newspapers, the Duke explained: "All it takes is one lone actor, one person who read this stuff, to act on what they have read, and whether that is a knife or acid… they are genuine concerns for me, they are one of the reasons I won't bring my wife back to this country."