Prince Harry and Meghan Markle won’t spend Christmas in Sandringham, source tells Vanity Fair 

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex won’t spend Christmas in Sandringham with the royal family and are ‘looking forward’ to their first holiday in California, sources have claimed.

Prince Harry, 36, and Meghan Markle, 39, are currently living in their $14 million Montecito mansion having stepped back from royal duty in March of this year.

Vanity Fair’s Katie Nicholl said the Sussexes are excited for their first American Christmas living in California and will travel to the UK days later, allowing them to isolate for two weeks ahead of the start of Meghan’s High Court case against the Mail on Sunday, which begins on January 11. 

It will mark the second year the couple will have spent the holiday away from the Queen, 94, and other royals  – having reportedly spent the last festive season with the duchess’ mother Doria Ragland and their son Archie in Canada.  

The royal expert went on to report that the news would likely be ‘disappointing’ for the monarch who is ‘missing’ Harry and her great-grandson Archie, whom she has not seen for a year.

Sources said Prince Harry had no plans to cross the Atlantic any time soon because of the Covid-19 crisis.

The insider explained: ‘Global travel has been made very complicated by the coronavirus pandemic and at the moment the Duke has no plans to travel back to the UK, certainly not before Christmas.’ 

Instead, the couple will travel to the UK with their son Archie in the period between Christmas and the New Year.

The royal expert went on to report that the news would likely be ‘disappointing’ for the Queen, 94, who is ‘missing’ Harry and her great-grandson Archie, whom she has not seen for a year

Sources said they plan to spend two weeks isolating in Frogmore Cottage before Meghan’s High Court case begins on January 11. 

While last Christmas the couple spent the festive season in Canada, Prince Harry and Meghan had previously spent every Christmas since their 2017 engagement at the Queen’s Sandringham Estate.  

Harry had always spent Christmas at the Queen’s Norfolk home, barring 2012 when he was serving in Afghanistan.  

The news comes after another source claimed Prince Harry and Meghan planned on spending Christmas in the US with the duke’s ‘surrogate’ father David Foster.

The royal couple previously spent every Christmas since their 2017 engagement at the Queen’s Sandringham Estate (pictured, on Christmas Day in 2018 with Prince Charles, Kate Middleton and Prince William 

The Mirror reported the Duke and Duchess plan to host Harry’s ‘surrogate’ dad, Canadian record producer David, and his wife Katharine McPhee, for their own Christmas soirée in Los Angeles.

‘Meghan very much wants to host the first Christmas at their new home with her mum,’ a source close to the couple claimed.

‘She’s really excited and is planning on doing all the traditions she grew up with as a child, including the cooking.’ 

McPhee, 36, knows the Duchess from their high school days in Los Angeles, having attended the same high school. 

Sources previously reported the Sussexes would spend Christmas with Canadian record producer David Foster, 70, and his wife Katharine McPhee, 36, (pictured in Beverly Hills in 2018)

According to the source, David and Katherine offered to host the festivities at their home, however, Meghan volunteered that she and Harry host at theirs.  

It comes after another source claimed to Vanity Fair’s Katie that the royal couple are enjoying their new life in California and their new home, and have no plans of returning to the UK for Christmas. 

They also suggested that Harry and Meghan might be trying to avoid tensions after the reported fall out 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.