TOM BOWER: Harry’s exclusion from the high society wedding of his family friend is proof that he’s now an outcast

Harry had expected it. After his serial infidelity, he is finally ostracized by those he thought were his best friends.

And no criticism is worse than that of Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster.

That he is not invited to such a wedding – alongside the king, the queen, the Waleses and the crème de la crème of British high society – underlines just how much of an outcast Harry now is. It's understandable if a leading member of the British establishment didn't want to risk embarrassing the royal family by turning the event into the inevitable circus that accompanies Harry and Meghan everywhere.

The exclusion will also be painful for personal reasons. Grosvenor has been an old friend. As young men, the pair partied and shot together. The joint family ties run deep. Both William and Harry chose Grosvenor as godfather to their sons on a friendship level, but also because their families' historical roots go back a long way.

Although he is undoubtedly injured, Harry can hardly be surprised.

Tom Bower

That he – alongside the king, the queen, the Waleses and the crème de la crème of British high society – has not been invited to such a wedding underlines how much of an outcast Harry (pictured with his wife Meghan) is now.

During his brief recent trips to Britain he was consistently shunned by his old friends. No one openly supports Harry, and privately they must despair at his recklessness. There was not only his terribly poorly judged interview with Oprah Winfrey, but also his shocking indictment of William and Kate in Apple podcasts and the contents of his book Spare. Making money by betraying his family and Britain's greatest institution is an impossible task for many of his friends.

As intimates of the Waleses, Grosvenor must be well aware of their anger towards the Sussexes.

Grosvenor didn't need to be told by William, “It's him or us.” That message was undoubtedly understood tacitly. The wedding stump makes the dilemma Harry faces much clearer. If he ever wants to return to Britain – and Meghan has reportedly said she never will – he will have to overcome an increasing number of obstacles. There was an opportunity to mend bridges. But Omid Scobie's ridiculous book, full of hurtful insults, offered the Sussexes the opportunity to distance themselves from this pernicious writer. But they have given no official rebuttal to the accepted view that Scobie is their mouthpiece.

Any chance of reconciliation between the royal family and the Sussexes is now fanciful. And Grosvenor's omission of Harry and Meghan from his wedding guest list amounts to the British establishment finally closing the door on Harry and Meghan. by Tom Tom Bower is author of Revenge: Meghan, Harry And The War Between The Windsors