Prince Harry Will Miss Britain’s “Wedding of the Year” Because of Continued Rift With the Royal Family, Royal Expert Reports

Prince Harry walking into High Court today for his phone hacking trial

(Image credit: Getty)

published 3 December 2023

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.

Hugh Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster — The Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor

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.”

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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