Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are ‘not ready’ to return to the UK for Christmas, a source claims

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have told friends they are ‘not ready’ to head back to the UK for a Christmas family reunion, a source has claimed.

The Duke, 36, and Duchess of Sussex, 39, reportedly have no plans of returning to the UK to spend December 25 with the Queen and the rest of the royal family – marking the second year they will have been absent for Christmas. 

The couple, who last year reportedly spent the festive season with the duchess’ mother Doria Ragland and their son Archie in Canada, previously spent every Christmas since their 2017 engagement at the Queen’s Sandringham Estate. 

‘At this stage they are really enjoying their new life in California and their new home,’ a well-placed source told Vanity Fair’s Katie Nicholl. ‘There are currently no plans for them to return to the U.K. for Christmas.’ 

The Duke, 35, and Duchess of Sussex, 39, reportedly have no plans of returning to the UK to spend December 25 with the Queen and the rest of the royal family – marking the second year they were absent for Christmas. Pictured, the royals arriving to attend the Christmas Day morning church service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, Norfolk

However, friends of the royal couple believe they won’t be returning to the UK for the festive season because a family reunion would be tense after the reported fallout of the ‘Fab Four.’

‘Let’s just say that while things are better between Harry and his brother, it’s not what it was, and I don’t think anyone is ready for a cozy family Christmas right now,’ the source added.

It comes as historian and royal biographer Robert Lacey is set to release a book called Battle Of Brothers, which picks apart — in uncompromising detail — the feud between Prince William and Prince Harry.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: ‘When I started to look into this supposed feud between the two princes, I didn’t believe it. 

Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and their baby son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation during their royal tour of South Africa on September 25, 2019 in Cape Town

‘I thought it was newspapers stirring up something that wasn’t there. I didn’t want to believe it, in truth. None of us does. Yet it most definitely exists. Actually, it’s worse than anyone thinks.’

He continued: ‘Some say, “Oh, it doesn’t matter. It will blow over.” But that’s not what historians will be saying in ten years’ time. 

‘If this breach between the brothers is not healed in some way it will come to stand with the Abdication crisis and the death of Diana as one of the traumas that changed the monarchy. 

‘There is time to change things in a positive direction, but at the moment the Palace is not working in that direction.’