Meghan Markle, Prince Harry and Archie skipped visiting the Queen at Balmoral in favour of a trip to Spain, according to an explosive new book about the couple. One of the claims in Revenge, by biographer Tom Bower, details Meghan and Harry's absence at the traditional royal break in Scotland.
The Highlands retreat of Balmoral is the summer mainstay for the Queen, where she welcomes royal family members during the course of her 10-week stay, like Prince Charles and Camilla, along with the likes of Prince William, Kate Middleton and their children.
It's said that Harry and Meghan had been expected to visit in 2019 with newborn Archie. However, they supposedly skipped the trip for sunnier climes. The Mirror reported Bowers' claim that Meghan felt Archie was "too young at three months to travel by plane to Scotland".
But that doesn't mean the couple shunned summer holidays after welcoming Archie in May. Harry and Meghan reportedly took Archie to Ibiza on his first summer holiday in August 2019.
Spanish publications reported that Meghan, Harry and Archie flew to the Balearic island on a private plane and were accompanied by their normal security team. It then later emerged they also travelled to Nice shortly after for a short trip, where they stayed at Elton John's private villa.
The claims come after Her Majesty reportedly extended an invitation for Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and their children to join her at Balmoral this summer.
Harry and Meghan's supposed invitation follows their meetings with the Queen on a handful of occasions so far in 2022, although each meeting was fairly brief. In April, Harry visited his beloved grandmother in a secret visit as he travelled to the Netherlands for the Invictus Games.
Then, during last month's Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the Queen met her namesake great-granddaughter for the first time. However, reports say this meeting lasted all of just 15 minutes.
The Sussexes spent little time with the monarch during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations earlier this year, during which they introduced their daughter Lilibet to her great-grandmother.
For Harry, holidaying in Balmoral over the summer was part and parcel of growing up royal - and he was at the estate in August 1997 when he heard the tragic news that his mother Princess Diana had died following a car crash in Paris.
But during her time as a working royal, Meghan only managed one trip to Balmoral with the Queen - in 2018 in the months after she and Harry tied the knot.
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