King Charles allegedly asked Meghan Markle to “stay away” from Queen Elizabeth II’s deathbed for a significant reason. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had been in the UK for work-related engagements just days before the late monarch passed away on September 8, 2022.
That trip turned out to be their last joint visit to Britain, as Meghan has not returned since. Their children, Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3, have also not visited the UK since attending the Platinum Jubilee in June 2022.
Just hours before the Queen’s passing, a spokesperson announced that both Harry and Meghan were heading to Balmoral to see her. However, Meghan was later left out of the trip due to a “change of plans.”
At the time, reports indicated that King Charles had asked Meghan to “stay away” so that Harry could visit his grandmother alone. A similar request was also made regarding the now-Princess of Wales.
As detailed in Robert Hardman’s book Charles III: New King, New Court, The Inside Story, the King wanted Meghan to refrain from visiting the late Queen to allow the royal family to share their final moments together without distractions or unnecessary conflicts.
In his explosive memoir Spare, Harry described how he immediately felt more at ease upon hearing that Kate wouldn’t be attending either. Reflecting on the moment in Spare, 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’.”
Talking about the moment he found out Kate wouldn’t be attending either, he said: “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 this point, it was already midafternoon, and there were no more commercial flights to Aberdeen that day. Still, he hadn’t heard back from Willy. That left him with only one option—a charter flight from Luton. Two hours later, he was on board.