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It’s one of the must-dos of the royal calendar, a long weekend enjoying the charm of summer in the Highlands with the Queen.
But while most of the Royal Family have made the long trek to Balmoral this summer, it seems the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have decided to stay at home instead.
Yesterday it emerged that despite rumours they would be joining the monarch this week with their baby son Archie, Harry and Meghan actually have no plans to fly up to Scotland at all.
Sources close to the couple insist that the decision should not be seen as a ‘snub’. In truth, Harry, 34, only rarely goes up to the Queen’s Deeside estate nowadays, although he did spend every summer there as a child.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and baby Archie (left) will not be attending Balmoral to visit the Queen (right)
Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, the Queen’s favourite residence where she spends much of her summer
The lure of fly fishing in the Dee, picnics and barbecues in the rain and long tramps through the midge-infested highlands around Balmoral have never held that much appeal.
The sources also stressed that now the couple live in Frogmore Cottage on the Queen’s estate at Windsor, they see the monarch much more regularly than most family members anyway. Still, the decision will, inevitably, raise eyebrows among those who see Balmoral as something of a royal three-line whip and an unrivalled chance to spend quality time with the ageing queen.
Charles and Camilla have been staying at Birkhall, their neighbouring estate, for most of July and August, while Princess Anne, the Duke and Duchess of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex and their children, Louise and James, have all holidayed with the Queen and Prince Philip.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge got a budget flight to Scotland with their three youngsters for a break with their great-grandmother last month.
Harry and Prince Charles at Balmoral in 1997
Meghan, 38, hasn’t yet visited Balmoral, which was bought by Queen Victoria, although the couple visited both Birkhall and the Castle of Mey in Scotland with Charles last summer.
Instead she and Harry have enjoyed a week-long trip to Ibiza and a long weekend in the south of France with Sir Elton John, flying over on private jets. The couple’s new office at Buckingham Palace declined to comment last night.
But sources stressed that they had neither been ‘expected’ to go, nor had Harry been a frequent visitor in recent years. They also denied the suggestion that Harry and Meghan feel Archie is too young to spend time in Scotland. Despite their two foreign jaunts last month, Harry and Meghan have spent much of August working ‘under the radar’ it is understood.
Indeed Harry yesterday popped up unannounced at Sandhurst, his old military college, to talk to staff and students about mental health issues, and had a similar meeting with the Royal Marines on Wednesday.
‘They have had a very busy working summer,’ the source said. ‘A lot of work has been going on behind the scenes for the duke’s Travalyst initiative [promoting environmentally friendly tourism], which was launched this week, and the duchess’s Smart Works fashion project which launches next Thursday.
‘They were back having meetings at Kensington Palace from early August with just two short breaks in between and are busy preparing for their official trip to Africa which starts this month.’
Queen Elizabeth II (left) and the Princess Royal arrive at Crathie Kirk in Scotland on Sunday
But the privacy-obsessed Sussexes have been under fire for taking four private flights in 11 days last month after previously claiming they will have a maximum of two children to avoid damaging the environment.
They flew to Ibiza by private jet on August 6 for Meghan’s 38th birthday.
Days later, they flew to Nice on a £15 million a Cessna Citation Sovereign which features a refreshment bar and is described as the ‘pinnacle of luxury’.
Sir Elton said he paid for their flights to his holiday home and made an ‘appropriate contribution’ to a carbon footprint fund to offset the environmental impact. But ex-royal protection officer Ken Wharfe, who guarded Princess Diana, said: ‘It’s hypocritical. Harry can’t preach about the catastrophic effects of climate change while jetting around the world on a private plane.’
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