Harry and Meghan plan to spend Christmas with Harry's 'surrogate father' in the US

Harry and Meghan are bailing on the royal family Christmas again this year. Photo / AP

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle won't be spending Christmas in the UK this year, as they've made plans with Harry's "surrogate father" David Foster instead.

Harry, 36, and Meghan, 39, are reportedly planning to host their own Christmas party in LA and are inviting the Canadian record producer Foster and his wife Katharine McPhee, according to The Mirror.

A source close to the couple claimed Meghan wanted to host their first Christmas at their new home with her mother.

"She's really excited and is planning on doing all the traditions she grew up with as a child, including the cooking."

It'll be the second year in a row the couple have spent Christmas away from the other royals, as they reportedly spent the last holidays with Meghan's mother Doria Ragland and their young son Archie.

They'd previously spent every Christmas since their engagement in 2017 at the Queen's estate in Sandringham.

McPhee knows Meghan from their school days in Los Angeles, where they went to the same high school.

The source claims Foster and McPhee offered to host the celebrations at their home, but Meghan volunteered her and Harry's mansion.

Meghan wants to spend their first Christmas in their new home with her mum. Photo / Getty Images

It comes as another source claimed to Vanity Fair that the couple have no plans to return to the UK for Christmas.

And they suggested that Harry and Meghan might be trying to avoid a tense situation after the reported fall out with William and Kate.

"Let's just say that while things are better between Harry and his brother, it's not what it was, and I don't think anyone is ready for a cosy family Christmas right now."

Historian and royal biographer Robert Lacey is about to release a book detailing the breakdown in the brothers' relationship and says when he first started to look into the feud, he "didn't believe it".

"I thought it was newspapers stirring up something that wasn't there. I didn't want to believe it, the truth. None of us does. Yet it most definitely exists. Actually, it's worse than anyone thinks."