Prince William and Kate ‘did not cancel skiing holiday for Harry and Meghan’s return to the UK’

‘William pointedly did not change his holiday plans,’ a new book on the royal family claims

Emily Atkinson
Thursday 22 September 2022 08:38 BST
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Prince Harry smiles at Princess Charlotte during Queen Elizabeth II's funeral

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The Prince and Princess of Wales did not cancel or rearrange their family skiing holiday to accommodate the return of Prince Harry and Meghan to the UK in September, a new book claims.

In the forthcoming book The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and the Future of the Crown, it is alleged that despite progress in healing family tensions with the late Queen, King Charles and the Queen Consort having been made by the Sussexes’ on their stop over in the UK, peace talks with William and Kate were unable to go ahead.

The Waleses were reportedly enjoying a family skiing holiday in the French Alps with their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis when Harry and Meghan made a brief return to home soil en route to The Hague for the Invictus Games earlier this month.

“William pointedly did not change his holiday plans,” author Katie Nicholl writes of the alleged snub.

The Sussexes’ whistle-stop tour of the UK included an audience with Queen Elizabeth II and an “awkward” 15-minute meeting with Charles and Camilla to which the California-dwelling pair had reportedly been late.

“Harry went in with hugs and the best of intentions and said he wanted to clear the air,” according to a family friend.

“He actually suggested that they use a mediator to try and sort things out, which had Charles somewhat bemused and Camilla spluttering into her tea.

“She told Harry it was ridiculous and that they were a family and would sort it out between themselves.”

The book also alleges, citing a source, that William and Kate had felt a “sense of relief” that the “drama was gone” when Prince Harry and Meghan left the UK to live in the US in January 2020.

Nicholl also writes that, to this day, “William still cannot forgive his brother.”

The Independent has contacted Buckingham Palace for comment.

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