Here's Why Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Won't Be at the Palace Reception With President Trump

Julie Sprankles

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The POTUS is making his way to Buckingham Palace this week, but Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are skipping Donald Trump’s visit. The president will be in London for a two-day summit of NATO leaders, during which time he’ll join Queen Elizabeth on Tuesday for a reception at Buckingham Palace. And while other royals such as Kate Middleton and Prince Charles will be in attendance, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex won’t be — but there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for their absence.

By the time Trump makes it back to the U.K. this week, Meghan and Harry will already be in the midst of a planned and widely publicized hiatus. “The Duke and Duchess have a full schedule of engagements and commitments until mid-November, after which they will be taking some much-needed family time,” a royal source told People. Of course, the couple will also have their almost-seven-month-old son Archie along with them. The trio reportedly spent Thanksgiving in the U.K. but will likely spend a little time in the U.S. before the year ends. Accordingly, they’ve already announced that they won’t be attending the Queen’s annual holiday festivities at Sandringham.

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It also merits mentioning that they aren’t the only prominent royals missing Trump’s visit. Prince William is currently on a four-day solo tour of Kuwait and Oman, so he won’t be on hand to greet the American president either.

Meghan missing Trump’s visit seems to be garnering headlines more for the fact that she similarly wasn’t present when Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visited the U.K. in June for a state visit. Leading up to the visit, Trump reacted negatively when a reporter informed him Meghan had criticized him during his 2016 presidential run. His response? “I didn’t know that she was nasty.”

The state visit came mere hours later so, when Meghan didn’t make an appearance, much was made of the tension between the two. But having just given birth to baby Archie in May, Meghan was still on maternity leave at the time and not expected to attend (Harry did meet with Trump during that visit). So, while there is bound to be a lot of hoopla surrounding her absence of this visit, we’re choosing to embrace the peaceful spirit of the season and assume Meghan and Trump’s timing is just simply not in sync.

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