Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have already indicated they ‘would be happy to accept’ an invitation to spend Christmas with the Royal Family.
But they may not be welcome anyway, insiders have claimed.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have no firm festive plans in place yet, according to sources close to the couple.
However they are ‘highly unlikely’ to turn down the chance to spend Christmas with the King, reports The Telegraph.
Despite ‘friends of the Sussexes’ telling the Sunday Times they would be open to celebrating at Sandringham to ‘change the state of play’, that idea has quickly been repelled.
Another insider told MailOnline that any invite for Harry and Meghan may not go down well with other senior royals, including the Prince of Wales, whose relationship with his younger brother has gone stale.
‘It seems as if they are really doubling down on their reconciliation strategy,’ the source said.
They added that it was ‘bizarre’ to suggest that the couple could just ‘waltz back in and allow bygones to be bygones if only someone would be good enough to invite them’.
‘Which begs the question, why now?’ they added.
‘Could it be that they have realised moaning about how awful being a member of the Royal Family is, isn’t such a great strategy after all?’
Harry and Meghan spoke openly in a Netflix documentary and during a sit-down interview with Oprah about the struggles they suffered and pressure they were under after they got married.
Sources close to the pair said Harry would call his father to wish him a happy birthday on Tuesday.
Harry and Meghan also reportedly shared a video of their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, singing to their grandfather King Charles.
Another royal insider said they thought His Majesty would be more likely to invite Harry and Meghan to visit him in Scotland over the New Year when William and Kate would be at their Anmer Hall country home in Norfolk.
‘It would certainly have the advantage of killing two birds with one stone; extending an olive branch to one son without causing difficulty to the other,’ they said.
Buckingham Palace has not commented on the latest reports.
But sources have previously implied that the King will never ‘shut the door’ on his youngest son and believes their relationship can be repaired.
King Charles has made it clear that Harry and his family are welcome to stay on royal property when they come to the UK.
A friend told The Sunday Times: ‘I can’t imagine the Sussexes would decline an invitation to spend time with His Majesty. As of yet, there have not been any invitations for the holidays.’
Another source added: ‘Christmas plans are normally nailed down by now as Sandringham isn’t a particularly big place and there’s not a lot of room for the entire extended family.
‘It would be surprising for the Sussexes not to have received an invitation by now if there was going to be one. New Year in Scotland would be more likely.’
Last week, Meghan Markle enjoyed a rare glamorous night without Prince Harry at a star-studded Hollywood bash.
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