'All Bridges Have Been Burnt': Why Meghan Markle and Prince Harry 'Wouldn't Accept' an Invitation to King Charles' Birthday Celebration
King Charles' 75th birthday is around the corner, but one insider claimed Meghan Markle and Prince Harry won't participate in the November celebration. Princess Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell, discussed the status of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's RSVP during an interview.
In August, it was reported that Charles hoped to see Meghan, Harry, Princess Lilibet and Prince Archie at his party, but Burrell recently claimed that things were tense between the Sussexes and His Majesty.
"Once again, the royal family have a dilemma, don't they? Do we invite them and take the moral high ground and risk whatever fallout might come from it or do we not invite them and still risk the fallout which will come from it?" Burrell pondered in an interview.
"The King's steered very clearly: he has steered very carefully around this dilemma now for some time and it will be a dilemma for him for many years to come," he continued.
Although neither Buckingham Palace nor the Sussexes have released a formal statement, Burrell doesn't envision the American-based royals will travel to the U.K. for the event.
"I don't think that Harry and Meghan would accept an invitation to a family gathering to celebrate the King's birthday," Burrell speculated. "I cannot see it. I can't see it."
"I can see the parting of the Red Sea before that happens because the rift now is so huge between the Sussexes and the royal family that they would be very uncomfortable," he said. "Both parties would be very uncomfortable. I personally do not think that will happen."
The reality star later said that the opportunity for the Sussexes to mend things isn't in the cards for them.
"I think all avenues to the Sussexes have been blocked, all bridges have been burned, and there is no way back except for Harry coming back to the country for charitable events of his own making," he confessed. "I don't think it will be in the capacity of the King's son unless it's a really serious state occasion when he has to be there."
Burrell later shared that Harry would probably make an appearance for things related to the state, but not make time for more intimate things.
"The King's death would be an occasion that Harry would have to attend. It’s his father for goodness sake," the author said. "But the coronation in the last year wasn't a family occasion, it was a state occasion. So I can see the Sussexes coming, or certainly Harry coming, for state occasions but not for private occasions."
"They're not invited, they're not welcome. This is their doing. They did this," he added. "I know this family, I know how they work. I know what makes them tick and to be betrayed on a very personal level I think is treasonable in their eyes."
Burrell later revealed that Harry isn't speaking to his father or brother, but he's in touch with Diana's siblings.
"[Prince Harry] has communication with the Spencers. Yes, he does. Isn't that strange? The Spencers have remained silent and quiet for the last 26 years," the former royal employee noted.
"Harry has gone to them as mediators in the past because they are not royal, they don't live in the royal world," he added. "They understand the court but they are not in the court and the Spencers are outsiders now. Harry feels he's an outsider and he's gravitated [toward] the Spencer side. His mother's blood."
Burrell spoke to Woman and Home.