The Royal Family Missing Princess Lilibet's Christening Wasn't a "Snub," Royal Historian Claims

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's daughter Lilibet (that's Princess Lilibet to you) was christened in Los Angeles last Friday. Though senior members of the Royal Family were invited to the event, they did not end up attending.

People (it's me, I'm people) have been quick to wonder whether this was a deliberate choice on the royals' part to show the Sussexes that they don't approve of their recent choices. However, for royal historian Mok O'Keeffe (AKA @gayaristo), the explanation is probably much simpler than that.

"I think that people may read a lot into the fact that the Royal Family missed the christening of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s daughter, Lilibet, last week," O'Keeffe tells Marie Claire.

"Royal diaries are planned over a year in advance so they can fulfill official functions and support the immense amount of charities they visit each year. And then there is the small matter of planning for the coronation."

Because of this, O'Keeffe doesn't think the King, Queen consort and Wales couple were trying to be mean.

"I doubt this is in any way a snub—just a case of diary clashes," O'Keeffe says.

"As we saw from the Netflix documentary, the Sussexes are great friends with Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and it would appear that they did not attend the christening. We know the Sussexes value their privacy, and this is reflected in the way they have chosen to christen their daughter."

Still, King Charles did reportedly decide to evict Prince Harry and Meghan Markle the day after Harry's memoir Spare was published, so it doesn't sound like they're on the terms most conducive to attending each other's important life events, either. The coronation should be interesting!