Harry and Meghan ‘are being lined up to present the Best Picture Oscar’ next week

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ‘are being lined up to present the Best Picture Oscar’ next week despite both pulling out of Prince Philip’s memorial service.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were said to have been approached at the end of last year, but it is not yet known whether they have agreed to attend the event, held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 27 – just two days before the London service.

According to reports, Harry and Meghan had initially been lined up to present the award for Best Actress in a nod to their work on women’s rights, but the plan was scrapped after Kristen Stewart was nominated for her role in Spencer, a film about the life of Diana. 

A source told The Sun newspaper: ‘It would be seen as a final kick in the teeth for the royal family if he did – he’s too nervous to fly to London without police protection, but happy to stand up in front of a huge live audience at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Not great optics.’

It comes days after Harry confirmed he won’t be attending a memorial service for the Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey on March 29, but said he will be attending the Invictus Games at The Hague in the Netherlands next month in a bizarre joke video which was pilloried by royal experts who said: ‘His grandfather would have given him a clip around the ear and told him to grow up.’

The decision not to attend the service comes after the duke took the Government to court over its decision not to provide full police protection when he visits Britain, his lawyers saying that Harry does ‘not feel safe’ without the protection of Scotland Yard officers.  

It is not yet known whether they have agreed to attend the event, held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 27

According to reports, Harry and Meghan had initially been lined up to present the award for Best Actress in a nod to their work on women’s rights, but the plan was scrapped after Kristen Stewart was nominated for her role in Spencer, a film about the life of Princess Diana

Harry was criticised for releasing a video promoting this year’s Invictus Games just hours after confirming he won’t attend Prince Philip’s memorial service

The clip shows the Duke of Sussex learning Dutch ahead of the games, which will take place in the Netherlands in April, before ripping off his hoodie top to reveal an all-orange outfit

Harry and Meghan may be attending the Oscars in LA on March 27, and the duke has confirmed he will attend the Invictus Games in The Hague on April 16. But the couple are not attending a memorial service for Prince Philip in London on March 29

In a promo video for the Invictus Games, which appears to have been filmed in his $14million Californian mansion, Harry told his team he ‘really wants to get this right’ – before putting on orange sunglasses and a hat and ripping off his hoodie to reveal an all-orange outfit. Pointing down into the camera, he then tells his Invictus colleagues he is ‘ready’ for the games.

Former royal chef Darren McGrady, who cooked for Princess Diana, commented: ‘His grandfather would have given him a clip around the ear and told him to grow up. The Queen will be devastated, and Princess Diana would, too, if she were here.’

Experts had predicted that Harry would not attend Philip’s Service of Thanksgiving, after his lawyers last month told a court the prince does ‘not feel safe’ in the UK without the protection of Scotland Yard officers, during his ongoing legal battle over security.

Royal biographer Angela Levin slammed the duke as a ‘child stamping his feet’ over the decision and said the move was tantamount to ‘blackmail’, warning Harry could use dropping out of major events at the last minute as leverage to secure personal protective security in the UK.

Levin warned that though Harry ‘has snubbed the Duke of Edinburgh… really he is snubbing the Queen’ who is still ‘grieving the loss of her husband of 73 years’ – and was only given 15 minutes advance notice of Harry’s announcement.

‘He has got this all wrong. If he comes over for a royal event he gets police protection. What they won’t do is, if he goes out with his friends he gets security. He’ll probably use this same excuse to try to get out of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations,’ she said.

‘It’s all about “me, me, me” rather than going out of his way for his grandmother and showing her he cares. He’s behaving like a child stamping his feet’. 

The Daily Mail’s Royal Editor Rebecca English says the decision has been seen by Palace insiders as ‘a slap in the face to the Queen’.

‘Within a couple of minutes of announcing that he would not be attending the Duke of Edinburgh’s service of thanksgiving, Harry’s team also announced that he would be attending the Invictus Games in the Hague in April, just a few weeks later,’ she said.

‘This has obviously surprised a lot of people… to travel to Europe to go to that, but not to his grandfather’s memorial service has, to use a well-worn phrase, got people’s goat.

‘They feel it is a slap in the face to the Queen and, again, another PR disaster as far as many people in the UK are concerned.’

The Mail on Sunday’s Editor at Large Charlotte Griffiths believes that the move could have even more profound implications.

‘There is that feeling that this could be one of the last chances he gets to see some of the older members of the family,’ she said. ‘It just feels so insensitive and so vitriolic and so pointless.’

It came after Harry and Meghan announced they made donations to several charities including The Halo Trust.

The non-political charity helps communities across the world remove deadly landmines from their land.

Halo has 8,500 staff in 25 countries and territories and has been providing ambulances and logistics to medical authorities in Zimbabwe, Somalia, Libya, Afghanistan and Guinea-Bissau. 

A spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex last week confirmed he would not be leaving his Montecito mansion to attend a memorial marking the passing of his grandfather, which is due to be held at Westminster Abbey on March 29 

Royal watchers have discussed how Prince Harry’s decision not to attend his late grandfather Prince Philip’s service of thanksgiving could be perceived by the Queen (pictured)

The duke made an emotional pilgrimage to Africa in 2019 to retrace the steps of his mother Diana, who famously walked through a partially cleared Angolan minefield in 1997 to highlight the trust’s efforts and the threat of the military munitions.  

Footage was released on Friday of the duke holding a video call with two women who have made the decision to stay in Ukraine with the Halo Trust which has been clearing military ordinance in the eastern European country since 2016.

Diana worked with the Halo Trust in Huambo, Angola, during the 1990s in a fight against landmines. At the time, her support for an international treaty banning use of the explosive devices was seen as a political stance, but it was widely regarded as one of her greatest humanitarian efforts.

Harry, who has served as the charity’s patron and visited Angola to see the work they are doing, met virtually with Olesia, Halo’s communications manager in Ukraine, and Maryna, 25, the charity’s monitoring and evaluation officer.