The prince, who spent just over 12 hours at Balmoral, has been estranged from his family since he and his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped down as members of the royal family and gave a series of interviews condemning the family and the institution and accusing it of racism. A clearly distraught Harry arrived at Balmoral at 8pm on Thursday, 90 minutes after the Queen’s death was announced. Although only Charles and his sister Anne were said to be at the Queen’s bedside when she died, peacefully, yesterday evening, the announcement of her death was delayed until other family members gathered at Balmoral. Prince William, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and his wife Sophie all flew to Scotland together but, incredibly, Harry was not on board, despite being at home in Windsor with Meghan. which is only a few hundred yards from William’s house (and not far from Edward’s or Andrew’s houses). He arrived hours later and was in the air, on a commercially chartered plane, when the death was announced. Mystery also surrounded the movements of his wife Megan. Despite the initial announcement by pro-Sussex journalist Omid Scobie that Meghan would accompany Harry to Balmoral, Scobie later corrected to say that she would not. The palace has not clarified what happened, but the BBC’s royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell gave voice to widespread speculation that she had been told to stay clear, saying on air: “She may not have been received terribly warmly, to be perfectly honest about ‘ this”. Just over 12 hours after Harry’s arrival at 8:30am. local time, he was photographed texting on his phone as he was led out of the gates of Balmoral Castle, in pictures carried by MailOnline. He was then seen boarding a plane at Aberdeen Airport, apparently comforting an airport employee.
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Harry’s solitary pilgrimage to and from his grandmother’s deathbed is no accident. The choreography represents a clear message from King Charles: Harry is an outsider, a second-class royal now. The Daily Mail reported that the plane he used was “owned by commercial jet charter company Luxeaviation UK”. His ruthless treatment will only serve to fuel speculation of ongoing bad blood between Harry, Meghan and the rest of the family. A former royal staffer, as previously reported by The Daily Beast, told The Royalist, “I’m sure everyone will put on a good show for the funeral, as they did for Philip’s. But this circumstance failed to bring the brothers together in any meaningful way. This will be no different.” Harry and Meghan’s isolation from the rest of his family comes after Harry’s camp said this week, before the Queen’s death, that Harry had made no attempt to contact William and refused to do so until William apologized for his part in what Harry sees as unacceptable treatment of him and Meghan before they left the family. Harry and Meghan were in the UK, coincidentally, having arranged a series of charity events in England and Germany this week. Scobie said on Twitter this morning that Harry will “of course” remain in the UK until the Queen’s funeral, which is likely to take place on Monday, September 19.
