The protocol surrounding the death of the Queen and the state funeral that followed had been meticulously planned over decades.
Codenamed ‘Operation London Bridge’, it included a massive document which detailed every possible variation of what could happen on her death.
And though Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had chosen to leave the Royal Family at the beginning of 2020, they too had made plans for the sombre day.
The couple had always planned on going to the Queen’s deathbed together, according to a royal book.
But, when the Queen died unexpectedly at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, 2022, only Harry made the journey to be with his family.
Although he and Meghan were already in the UK to carry out charity events, the Duchess of Sussex did not go to Scotland.
This wasn’t always the intention. A spokesman for the Sussexes said at the time that the couple would be travelling to see the Queen together, but Meghan was later dropped due to an unspecified ‘change of plans’.
Reports suggested Meghan was asked to stay away by then-Prince Charles to let Harry visit his grandmother alone, with the understanding that the same was also asked of Kate.
But a recent biography of King Charles has claimed that Kate had not been asked to stay at home as previously thought, but had chosen to do so instead.
King Charles didn’t want Meghan to come to the Queen’s deathbed at Balmoral because he wanted to avoid family conflict, according to a royal book
Queen Elizabeth waits in the Drawing Room of Balmoral to receive Conservative party Liz Truss. She died two days later
Queen Elizabeth, Meghan and Harry watch a flypast to mark the centenary of the Royal Air Force from the balcony of Buckingham Palace in 2018
The distinguished Daily Mail writer Robert Hardman’s book Charles III: New King, New Court, The Inside Story, claims that Kate decided to stay in England because she felt she needed to support her three children as they began to attend a new school.
It is alleged Kate wanted to stay behind with her children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, on the important day when they started at Lambrook School.
Her decision was then allegedly used as an excuse and, out of sheer luck, it helped calm Prince Harry down when he was informed Meghan was not welcome at Balmoral.
After all, at that point Charles believed the Queen still had days, not hours, to live, and he wanted the royals to concentrate on their final goodbyes and not engage in petty infighting.
He had simply wanted Meghan to stay away to avoid family conflict, according to the 2024 book.
Charles had called both his sons personally, urging them to travel up to Scotland as soon as possible in order to say their goodbyes.
In his memoir Spare, Harry how the news that Kate would also not be attending seemed to instantly calm him down.
Charles had called both of his sons personally, urging them to travel up to Balmoral Castle in Scotland as soon as possible in order to say their goodbyes
Kate (pictured with Meghan in 2018) never came to Balmoral because she wanted to stay behind with her children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, as they were starting a new school, according to a book
Meghan on her first joint engagement with the Queen in June 2018
Prince William gets off the plane in Aberdeen as members of the Royal Family gathered at Balmoral on the day she died in September 2022
Prince William drives Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and Sophie, now Duchess of Edinburgh, into Balmoral on the day of the Queen’s death
He wrote: ‘Meg and I looked at flight options. The Press started phoning; we couldn’t delay a decision any longer. We told our team to confirm: We’d be missing the WellChild Awards and hurrying up to Scotland.
‘Then came another call from Pa. He said I was welcome at Balmoral, but he didn’t want…her. He started to lay out his reason, which was nonsensical, and disrespectful, and I wasn’t having it. “Don’t ever speak about my wife that way”.
‘He stammered, apologetic, saying he simply didn’t want a lot of people around. No other wives were coming, Kate wasn’t coming, he said, therefore Meg shouldn’t. “Then that’s all you needed to say”.
‘By now it was midafternoon; no more commercial flights that day to Aberdeen. And I still had no response from Willy. My only option, therefore, was a charter out of Luton. I was on board two hours later.’
Harry had to charter a plane out of Luton as the offices of the other members of the Royal Family seemed unable to coordinate with his.
Hardman wrote in his book that moments like the death of the Queen were ‘precisely the sort of situation when different royal teams talk to one another to get things done’.
But a senior Kensington Palace source told him the Sussexes’ aides made no call to Prince William’s camp that morning, despite them having ‘all the numbers’.
By this point, William was estranged from his brother, and there was no direct contact made between the pair as the Queen died or it seems in the days after.
Hardman wrote: ‘Clearly, Prince William did not regard this as the appropriate moment for the intensely difficult conversation he needed to have with his brother.’
The author added that feelings about the Sussexes’ March 2021 Oprah interview and the various claims against them were still raw.
The royals were still upset about the Sussexes’ March 2021 Oprah interview and the various claims that were made against them
Royal writer Robert Hardman (right) wrote about Charles’ decision not to invite Meghan to Balmoral in his book Charles III: New King, New Court. The Inside Story (left)
He wrote: ‘There could be little scope for dialogue until its contents were known. The sense of reckless betrayal following the Sussexes’ interview with Oprah Winfrey the year before, and its vague, unanswerable half-claims of institutional racism and hostility towards Meghan, still lingered.
‘Some of the family were probably ready to give him a piece of their mind, says one of those in the midst of this fast-moving turn of events.’
When it came to the phone call showdown between Charles and Harry, Hardman wrote it would have been difficult for gentle Charles to order Meghan away.
He wrote: ‘We can easily imagine the dread with which the Prince of Wales approached that call.
‘The Sussexes’ capacity for taking offence was well known and everyone was conscious that any conversation could end up in the public domain — as, indeed, this one did three months later.’
Royal biographer Omid Scobie wrote in his 2023 book Endgame: ‘Charles had cited “protocol”, but the reality was that Kate chose to stay back to pick up the children from their first day at a new school.
‘They just didn’t want Meghan there,’ a former Palace aide told the Sussex-friendly author. Meghan, a friend added to him, ‘could sense she wasn’t wanted’.
The royals attend the Christmas Day church service at Sandringham in 2018
William, Kate, Harry and Meghan outside Windsor Castle, two days after the Queen’s death
Prince Edward’s wife Sophie, regarded as one of the Queen’s favourites, came to Balmoral alongside her husband.
Charles’ wish to avoid Meghan’s presence was perhaps understandable, as it would have been an intensely emotional and private situation for the Royal Family.
By the time the Queen passed away at 3.10pm, only Charles, Camilla, and Princess Anne had been able to see her before her passing, as they were already in Scotland for prior engagements.
However, only Anne was present when their mother passed away as Charles had momentarily left her bedside to clear his mind and had gone out to gather mushrooms.
Hardman’s account details how Anne, looking visibly distressed, was offered a hug by a senior member of staff as she waited to greet her brother outside the castle.
She smiled wryly and said, in typical no-nonsense style: ‘That is the last time that’s going to happen.’
Charles was informed of her death while driving back to Balmoral after his senior aide received a call. He pulled over and for the first time was addressed as ‘Your Majesty’ – indicating that he was now King.
Buckingham Palace announced at 12.50pm that William, Andrew, Edward and Sophie had begun their journey to Scotland, but they unfortunately did not arrive until over an hour after her death.
Charles, who had gone out to gather mushrooms and clear his head after seeing his mother, received the news that she had died as he was driving back to Balmoral
Prince Harry, on the other hand, departed from Luton airport on a private jet at around 5.30pm and he was still airborne when the announcement of the Queen’s death was made at 6.30pm.
When he arrived, his father and brother had already left and he reportedly had no further contact with William in the days that followed.
But although things were already bad between the brothers, relations between them got worse in the months following the funeral.
In December Harry and Meghan released their tell-all Netflix docuseries and in January 2023 the duke published his revealing memoir Spare.
And although details from around the time of Queen’s death were fairly light in both accounts, perhaps if Meghan had come to Balmoral on the day of her death, there would have been more to tell.
