Given all of the palace briefings about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s fictional Christmas plans over the weekend, I think we can safely say that the palace constantly uses Harry and Meghan’s names to gin up interest in literally anything they’ve got going on. This week, the royals are focusing on their Christmas plans, and Chris Ship at ITV truly got a full briefing on all of the Christmas-at-Sandringham plans on Monday. I already covered the news about Queen Camilla inviting her family to Sandringham this year – a first, and a signal that the Parker-Bowles relations are more acceptable than Harry, Harry’s wife and Harry’s children.
In any case, the point of the palace briefing to Chris Ship was to not only announce the Parker-Bowles news, but to emphasize that the Sussexes have not been invited and are not welcome at Sandringham. Ship’s palace briefing repeatedly emphasized that Sandringham would have a large gathering, so much so that Christmas dinner would need a bigger room and a bigger table, and despite all of this, the Sussexes “will not be there.” Prince Andrew will be – he’s once again taking up residence at Wood Farm, and Sarah Ferguson will be with him too. Given the Sussex news, of course Tom Sykes at the Daily Beast had to call up his favorite source, “a friend of Prince William,” to rage about the Sussexes not being invited to Christmas.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have reportedly not been invited to join the royal family at Christmas this year, with details of the Sussex-free Sandringham guest list appearing just hours after sources described as friends were quoted as saying they would like an invite.
The leaking of the official guest list to ITV.com’s respected royal reporter Chris Ship so soon after the notion of the Sussexes being invited was floated will be seen by many as a clear sign that the palace wanted to shut down speculation around the story.
The king’s office is thought to have been annoyed in recent days by the Sussex camp leaking details of a private phone call made by Harry and his family to the king to congratulate him on his birthday, which had the effect of focusing media attention on personality-driven family drama rather than Charles’ new anti-food waste project. If they have been equally unimpressed by the Sussexes testing the water on Christmas in mid-November, it might go some way to explaining the rapid rebuttal.
A friend of Prince William’s told The Daily Beast that William would have been implacably opposed to joining any party for Christmas lunch which included Harry and Meghan.
“The whole idea of them coming for Christmas was typically narcissistic and delusional,” the friend said. “There is no way William or Kate would want them there after what he wrote in his book. Would you want to sit down for a slap-up lunch with someone who had basically called you an a–hole in public? It would be a total humiliation. William and Kate are never, ever going to sign up for that, and Charles wouldn’t ask them to.”
Hector Projector rides again! Someone is “typically narcissistic and delusional” and it’s not Harry or Meghan. “Would you want to sit down for a slap-up lunch with someone who had basically called you an a–hole in public? It would be a total humiliation.” A more important question, surely, is whether you would want to sit down for a Christmas dinner with the brother who assaulted you and smeared your wife for years. Harry never even called William an a–hole, although A) William IS an a–hole and B) calling William an “a–hole” is practically a compliment given all of his other sh-tty qualities. And for the love of God, the phone call wasn’t leaked by the Sussexes!! The Sussexes also did not f–king brief Roya Nikkhah about a desire to spend Christmas among these terrible people. All of these stories have been PALACE briefings, falsely attributed to the Sussexes.
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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- 161569, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge laughing after taking part in a relay race during a training day with runners taking part in the 2017 London Marathon for Heads Together , the official Charity of the Year at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. London, United Kingdom – Sunday, February 5, 2017. UK, FRANCE, AUS, NZ, CHINA, HONG KONG, TAIWAN, SPAIN & ITALY OUT,Image: 532903283, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS, DIRECT SALES ONLY UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE IN CAPTION – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – [email protected] London: 44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: 1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: 49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: 34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: i-Images, PacificCoastNews / Avalon
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Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales speaks with children as he visits the Millennium Powerhouse, a multi-service youth hub which works with a wide range of local organisations with a mission to create brighter futures for young people, in Moss Side neighbourhood, in Manchester, on November 16, 2023.
NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS,Image: 822634957, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon [email protected] London 44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles 1 310 822 0419 Berlin 49 30 76 212 251 Madrid 34 91 533 42 89, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales speaks with children as he visits the Millennium Powerhouse, a multi-service youth hub which works with a wide range of local organisations with a mission to create brighter futures for young people, in Moss Side neighbourhood, in Manchester, on November 16, 2023.
NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS,Image: 822634971, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon [email protected] London 44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles 1 310 822 0419 Berlin 49 30 76 212 251 Madrid 34 91 533 42 89, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales speaks with a member of the community during a visit of the Millennium Powerhouse, a multi-service youth hub which works with a wide range of local organisations with a mission to create brighter futures for young people, in Moss Side neighbourhood, in Manchester, on November 16, 2023.
NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS,Image: 822635119, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon [email protected] London 44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles 1 310 822 0419 Berlin 49 30 76 212 251 Madrid 34 91 533 42 89, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales meets with well-wishers as a member of the public holds a painting depicting late Britain’s Diana, Princess of Wales, Britain’s King Charles III and Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales, as he visits the Millennium Powerhouse, a multi-service youth hub which works with a wide range of local organisations with a mission to create brighter futures for young people, in Moss Side neighbourhood, in Manchester, on November 16, 2023.
NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS,Image: 822635174, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon [email protected] London 44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles 1 310 822 0419 Berlin 49 30 76 212 251 Madrid 34 91 533 42 89, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
