President Joe Biden denied Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's request to use Air Force One. Photo / Getty Images, AP
President Joe Biden denied Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's request to use Air Force One. Photo / Getty Images, AP
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made a unique request to the President of the United States after the death of Queen Elizabeth.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, sources have claimed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attempted to travel back to America from the UK in September after the late monarch’s death on America Air Force One.
While President Joe Biden and his wife Jill were returning to the US at the same time as the Californian-based royals, Harry and Meghan’s request was reportedly denied and considered a “non-starter”.
A source told the UK news outlet “it would have caused such a commotion, it would have strained relations with the palace and the new King”, referring to King Charles.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry meet members of the public at Windsor Castle, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Photo / AP
The Bidens attended the Queen’s state funeral along with world leaders and foreign royals. They also attended a reception hosted by King Charles; however, they were not joined by Harry and Meghan at the event as the two were reportedly “uninvited” prior to the reception and told it was for working royals only.
Harry and Meghan were already in the UK at the time the Queen died but, despite being told her health was frail and declining rapidly, Harry was unable to make it to her bedside in Balmoral before her death.
Speaking to Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes as a promotion for his bombshell memoir Spare, Harry revealed that while his brother, Prince William, and other family members rushed to the Queen’s side via the royals’ private jet, he wasn’t invited.
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden view the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II lying in state on the catafalque in Westminster Hall, at the Palace of Westminster. Photo / AP
While there was much speculation that Harry had learned about the Queen’s death through the media, he told Cooper that prior to his grandmother’s passing, he had contacted William to synchronise travel details to get to Balmoral.
“I asked my brother, I said ‘what are your plans, how are you and Kate getting up there?’
“And then a couple of hours later all of the family members that live in the Windsor and Ascot area were jumping on a plane together, a plane with 12, 14 maybe 16 seats.
“I was not invited.”
By the time Harry arrived at Balmoral, the Queen had died.
Earlier he had told Tom Bradby in an ITV interview: “The day that she died was just a really, really horrible reaction from my family members.
“And then by all accounts, well certainly from what I saw and what other people probably experienced, was they were on the back foot and then the briefings and the leaking and the planting.
“I was like ‘we’re here to celebrate the life of Granny and to mourn her loss, can we come together as a family?’ but I don’t know how we collectively – how we change that.”
