- EXCLUSIVE: King Charles III celebrates his 75th birthday at Clarence House
- But Harry and Meghan have had no contact with Buckingham Palace about this
- A source told MailOnline that they had not received an invitation to the party
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have not been in contact with Buckingham Palace about an invitation to King Charles’ 75th birthday celebrations, their spokesperson has confirmed.
King Charles III will celebrate his 75th birthday next Tuesday, November 14, with a party at Clarence House with his closest friends and family.
The Sunday Times reported that Prince Harry had turned down an invitation to the birthday party and would instead stay in California.
But a spokesperson for the couple told MailOnline that the couple had never been contacted about the celebrations in the first place.
‘There has been no contact regarding an invitation to His Majesty’s upcoming birthday. It is disappointing that the Sunday Times misreported this story,” they said.
Prince Harry (pictured, left) and Meghan Markle (pictured, right) were not spoken to by Buckingham Palace about the party, their spokesperson said
King Charles will celebrate his 75th birthday at Clarence House on November 14
Relations between the Sussexes and the rest of the royal family are tense after a year of media battles
A source close to the Sussexes told MailOnline that the couple had not been invited to the plans, which they were completely unaware of.
“They had not received any invitations and were not aware of any celebrations until the stories came out,” the source said.
They added that the Sussexes would normally have been included in plans for major events, despite the widening gap between themselves and the rest of the royal family.
“In this case, that’s not the case and that’s okay. I am sure the Duke will find a way to get in touch privately to wish His Majesty a happy birthday, as he always did.”
‘The story in The Times and subsequent stories are positioned in such a way as to make it appear as if the Duke disapproves of his father, which is not the case.’
Relations have been strained since he and Meghan Markle stepped down as senior royals and moved to California.
They made a number of claims about their treatment by the Palace, including in an extensive interview with Oprah and in Harry’s memoirs.
Although the Duke has since attended his father’s coronation at Westminster Abbey in May, his relationship with King Charles remains fractured – with the royal family failing to publicly mark his birthday in September.
An insider has claimed that the Duke of Sussex has not received any personal wishes from his brother, Prince William, or his father, King Charles.
They even told The Telegraph: ‘Communication between the King and Prince Harry remains quite poor. They hardly speak at all.’
They said one possible reason for this is that King Charles was disappointed with the way Harry wrote about Queen Camilla in his autobiography, Spare.
The Duke said his stepmother is ‘dangerous’ and a ‘bad guy’ who has ‘left bodies in the streets’.
He wrote in Spare: ‘I have complex feelings about gaining a stepparent who I thought had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar.’
Harry also accused Charles and Camilla of ‘planting stories’ about William and his family: ‘Give Dad and Camilla an inch, he said, they’ll take a mile.’
A Buckingham Palace spokesman declined to comment, saying the palace does not comment on personal family matters.