Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not be celebrating Christmas with Queen Elizabeth despite her deteriorating health.
Contrary to earlier reports, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not be marking the holiday season with the monarch and the rest of the royal family.
According to multiple sources cited by Page Six, an invitation was extended to the duo to join the rest of the royal family at Sandringham for Christmas, but they will not be attending.
“There’s a lot that goes into the logistics and the planning of the family Christmas, so of course, staff know that Harry and Meghan are not coming,” one royal source told the outlet. “If they were, they would have communicated it to their family by now."
“But this is Her Majesty’s first Christmas without her husband, so one would have hoped they would want to be with her," the insider added.
The reason behind their absence is because Harry and Meghan don’t want to garner unnecessary attention if they fly to the UK from their new home in Montecito, California.
“I think everyone understands there will be a frenzy when they both come back to the UK, but they need to rip the [Band-Aid] off and get on with it.” the source added.