The Queen is ‘unlikely’ to meet great-granddaughter Lilibet in person after Prince Harry’s decision not to return to the UK to attend Prince Philip’s memorial service, a royal expert has claimed.
Richard Fitzwilliams, who has written extensively about the royal family, said it is ‘a great pity’ the monarch has still not met the Duke of Sussex’s nine-month-old daughter.
Harry confirmed on Friday he will not return to the UK from the US to join relatives at the high-profile occasion in Westminster Abbey on March 29.
A spokesperson said he hopes to visit his grandmother soon.
They declined to comment as to the reason for his decision, but Harry has pursued a legal challenge over his security arrangements after being told he would no longer be given the ‘same degree’ of personal protection when visiting from the US, despite offering to pay for it himself.
Royal biographer Angela Levin accused Harry of ‘snubbing’ the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen.
Mr Fitzwilliams told The Sun the duke’s absence from his grandfather’s memorial service ‘was expected because of the issue with security’, adding that ‘he would have wanted to come if he could’.
Asked whether the Queen will ever meet Lilibet, he suggested it is ‘increasingly unlikely’, saying: ‘If they don’t bring Lili over, then obviously that won’t happen.
‘It’s all something that’s clearly not going to be resolved in the foreseeable future. And it doesn’t seem likely they’re going to come over.’
Harry was last in London in the summer of 2021, when it is understood his security was compromised after his car was chased by paparazzi photographers as he left a charity event.
The duke wants to bring his son Archie and baby daughter Lilibet to visit from the US, but he and his family are ‘unable to return to his home’ because it is too dangerous, a legal representative previously said.
The judge in the High Court case, Mr Justice Swift, will give his ruling on February’s preliminary proceedings, part of which may be confidential, later.
Philip died just under a year ago in April 2021 at the age of 99.
Harry flew back from California, without the Duchess of Sussex who was heavily pregnant at the time, to attend the duke’s funeral in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
The guest list was trimmed from 800 to only 30 guests amid Covid restrictions, and the Queen sat alone in mourning for her husband of 73 years.
The service of thanksgiving for Philip in just over two weeks’ time is a chance for family, friends, dignitaries and representatives of the charities and organisations which Philip was associated with to gather in tribute to him.
Harry – one of the Queen and Philip’s eight grandchildren – last returned to the UK to unveil the statue of his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales on July 1 with the Duke of Cambridge.
The brothers have faced a long-reported rift. Harry quit as a senior working royal in 2020 and moved to the US with Meghan for a new life of personal and financial freedom.
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