During the personal royal family on Thursday, a small drama was also happening involving Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Rebecca English, a royal correspondent for the Daily Mail said it was a fortunate coincidence that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were in the country when the Queen passed away, “sparing him an emotional and undoubtedly traumatic transatlantic dash” as his grandmother’s health deteriorated.
As the royal households were filled with concern for the Queen’s health, Harry and Meghan announced that they would both travel to Balmoral to see Her Majesty.
A statement from the Sussexes’ spokesperson read: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be travelling to Scotland.”
Rebecca claimed that it was news to the Palace and many were ‘incredulous.’
It is not clear how much pressure the Palace had to bear but a spokesperson for the couple quickly clarified that “only the duke was traveling at the moment.”
As to what exactly happened, some say that Meghan feared she would not be warmly welcomed while others said that Prince William’s wife, Kate, would not be there and it would look bad if Meghan was present.
The announcement that only the Duke of Sussex would be flying to Balmoral was a ‘relief among aides,’ Rebecca said.
Palace insiders reportedly said that the first announcement that both Harry and Meghan would travel as “seen as wholly inappropriate” for a very simple reason: “this was a private, family moment.”
Only Charles and Anne were present when the Queen died. Andrew and Edward arrived afterwards with William, who is now heir to the throne.
Edward was accompanied by Sophie, who is adored by the monarch and is likely to have been there at her request.
While most have assumed that Kate, now the Princess of Wales, stayed in Windsor because it was her children’s first day at their new school, she “instinctively knew this was an occasion for the Queen’s blood family.”
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