According to Prince Harry, Her Majesty The Queen cancelled a dinner date with him and The Duchess of Sussex following their decision to step back as senior royals. The claim was made in unseen footage from The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview with US chat show host, Oprah Winfrey.
In fresh allegations, Prince Harry claims that his grandmother, The Queen, invited he and Meghan to Sandringham after they arrived back in the United Kingdom on 6th January 2020 following a stay in Canada. Harry and Meghan had spent the previous Christmas in Canada with their son, Archie.
Prince Harry claims that after landing back in the United Kingdom, he received a text message from his Private Secretary telling him not to go to Norfolk as The Queen “was busy all week.”
Speaking to Oprah, Harry said, “That announcement we put out on 8th January 2020, the contents of that was put in a letter to the institution, to my father, which was then shared at the end of December while we were in Canada. And then to get back on the 6th after my grandmother had said: ‘The moment you land, come to Sandringham, would love to have a chat. Why don’t you stay for dinner because it’s going to be a long drive and you’re going to be exhausted.”
Prince Harry continues, “The moment we land in the UK, I got a message from my Private Secretary, Fiona, at the time, cutting and pasting a message from The Queen’s Private Secretary saying: ‘Please pass on to The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, he cannot come to Norfolk. The Queen is busy, she is busy all week.'”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview aired in the United States on Sunday evening and will air in the United Kingdom on Monday 8th March at 9pm on ITV.
On the subject of being uninvited by The Queen, The Duke of Sussex continued, “I rang her from Frogmore that night and said: ‘I was thinking about coming anyway but I hear you’re now busy.’ And she said, ‘Yes, there’s something in my diary that I didn’t know I had.’ And I said, ‘What about the rest of the week?’ And she said, ‘That’s busy now as well.'”
When Oprah asks Harry, doesn’t The Queen get to do what The Queen wants to do, Harry replied, “No. When you’re head of the firm, there’s people around you that give you advice. And what has also made me really sad is that some of that advice has been really bad.”
In the main interview that aired last night, both The Duke and Duchess of Sussex heaped praise upon The Queen with Harry saying he has a “great” relationship with his grandmother.