Prince Harry Will Miss Britain’s \201cWedding of the Year\201d Because of Continued Rift With the Royal Family, Royal Expert Reports

The fallout from Endgame continues: though the book’s author Omid Scobie said that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were not involved at all in the project, it seems that they are experiencing blowback from the publication anyway. That’s according to The Sunday Times, which reports that Harry hasn’t been invited to the wedding of his childhood friend, the Duke of Westminster Hugh Grosvenor, despite the groom being the godfather of Prince Archie, Harry and Meghan’s son.

The Times’ royal editor Roya Nikkhah said that, although Harry didn’t receive an invitation, Prince William did, and that William might even serve as best man for the Duke of Westminster when he marries on June 7, 2024, at Chester Cathedral. The Prince and Princess of Wales are both reportedly expected to attend the wedding, as is Prince George, King Charles, and Queen Camilla. (Grosvenor is also a godfather to George, the eldest child of William and Kate.)

The Sun reports that the Duke of Westminster’s wedding is already being billed as “the wedding of the year” for British society in 2024; Grosvenor is worth an estimated £10 billion and has been described as “owning half of London,” as he is the head of a property empire that owns more than 1,500 buildings, including London’s entire Park Lane and Mayfair districts. Grosvenor became a billionaire at the tender age of 25, and his family is ranked as the twelfth wealthiest in Britain, according to last year’s Sunday Times’ Rich List. He’s also been dubbed “Britain’s richest bachelor,” but won’t be a bachelor for long; his bride is Olivia Henson, he announced last April, who, like Kate before her, attended Marlborough College.

It seems, according to Nikkhah, that the Duke of Westminster and Henson are looking to avoid any potential awkwardness for the royal family, and that he wanted the Sussexes to attend but ultimately decided against it.

“It’s incredibly sad it has come to this,” a friend said in Nikkhah’s piece. “Hugh is one of very few close friends of William and Harry’s who has maintained strong bonds and a line of communication with both. He wishes they could put their heads together and patch things up but realizes it’s unlikely to happen before the wedding. He wanted to avoid anything overshadowing the day, especially for Olivia, and doesn’t want any awkwardness.”