Prince Harry, Meghan aware their 'rude' silence 'shouted from Westminster Abbey rafters'

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are aware of the backlash they are going to face after snubbing Prince Philip at his memorial service.

The Duke of Duchess of Sussex did not only opt out of the event at Westminster Abbey, but also kept mum on social media while other family members showered the Duke of Edinburgh with tributes.

Royal expert Ingrid Seward, author of Prince Philip Revealed, tells The Mirror she believes the disrespect' speaks speaks volumes.

She said: "The wall of silence was as loud as if they had shouted from the abbey rafters. The normally verbose duke and duchess of Sussex said nothing.

"No spokesperson spewed out long sentences of undecipherable wordage. There were no flowers with the florists name proudly displayed.

"No comments from Archwell. Nothing. Not even a word from their supporters on various social media accounts."

She added: "There has been a great deal of criticism about Prince Harry ’s absence from his grandfather’s memorial service. But no reason given as to why he chose not to attend from Harry himself.

"A couple of weeks ago he instructed his spokesperson to say he wouldn’t be going. That was it.

"What a missed opportunity it was not to bring Meghan and the children to join the extended royal family, European cousins and of course Archie’s contemporaries.

"Their appearance would not have diverted attention away from the Queen. It was her day and no one could take that away from her not even her favourite son the Duke of York who guided her to her seat.

"The only explanation is that neither one of them wanted to go. There would have been no security problems. The whole Abbey was bristling with secret service men to guard the biggest gathering of royalty, politicians and top army brass since the London wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

"Harry must have known it would look petulant and rude. And if he did not Meghan would have.

"If it was a pointed snub to the whole royal family and it went sour.