Prince Harry failed to convince the Queen and her aides to allow him and Meghan Markle to be on the Buckingham Palace balcony during the Jubilee celebrations, a royal author claims.
One of the most talked about moments during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee event last month was over the Sussexes’ absence from the balcony following the Trooping the Colour.
A statement from Buckingham Palace that only working royals would be allowed on the balcony appeared to clear up the matter as it meant that the Sussexes and Prince Andrew would not be permitted.
With Harry and Meghan having moved to the United States and stepped back from royal life, it meant they were now private citizens.
But royal author Tom Bowers reportedly said that the Sussexes were not happy at being prevented from standing on the balcony for one of the iconic images during the Jubilee.
In his view it was Meghan who felt the need for them to be on the balcony and in the limelight due to the contract they have with Netflix.
Mr Bowers said that Harry first asked the Queen’s advisers to be present and when that didn’t work, he arranged to see the Monarch by stopping off in the UK on the way to the Invictus Games last April.
"To achieve this goal Harry asked the Queen’s resistant advisers. When this failed he asked the Queen if he could visit her in Windsor on his way to the Netherlands for the Invictus Games. To secure her agreement, Harry appeared to give the impression that the meeting would offer an “olive branch” to 'clear the air'," wrote Mr Bowers, in an extract published by The Times of the book "Meghan, Prince Harry and the war between the Royal Family".
"At the last moment, keen to see her grandson and instinctively forgiving of Meghan, the Queen agreed to meet the couple on April 14. William avoided the problem with a previous arrangement to ski with his family in France."
Mr Bowers said that Harry and Meghan were driven to Windsor Castle after arriving in the UK and first met with Charles and Camilla before seeing the Queen.
The antagonistic approach that the Sussexes have taken towards the royals since moving to the US meant that this meeting was fairly cold. Harry and Meghan have regular spoken to media in the United States where they have criticised the royal way of life, especially in a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.
"Their first encounter (with Charles and Camilla) was civilised but failed to resolve the fraught relations created by their Oprah Winfrey interview. By contrast, there was no tension drinking tea with the Queen. Yet the issue of their appearance on the balcony remained unresolved," said Mr Bowers.
