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Harry and Meghan called 'cruel' for turning down ailing Queen's invite for Christmas

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are said to have declined the family Christmas invite and are also set to miss the Queen's extended Christmas lunch

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are not really popular with people online now after they apparently denied an invitation to go to Sandringham with the royal family for the Christmas holidays. This year’s Christmas is going to be Queen Elizabeth II’s first one after the death of her husband Prince Philip, in April. Also recently, the monarch had a hospital stay due to several health issues.

The Sussexes were reportedly invited for the festive season to spend with their family back in the UK, but a number of sources claimed that they turned down the offer. A royal source told Page Six, “There’s a lot that goes into the logistics and the planning of the family Christmas, so of course, staff know that Harry and Meghan are not coming. If they were, they would have communicated it to their family by now. But this is Her Majesty’s first Christmas without her husband, so one would have hoped they would want to be with her.”

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The insider added, “I think everyone understands there will be a frenzy when they both come back to the UK, but they need to rip the [Band-Aid] off and get on with it.” Every year, the Queen is often accompanied by Prince Charles, Camilla Parker-Bowles, Prince William, and Kate Middleton at Sandringham house -- one of the royal residences of the Highness in the parish of Sandringham, Norfolk, England.

Apart from the Sandringham house visit, Harry and Meghan will also likely miss the Queen’s annual Christmas lunch for her extended family, which is normally held at Buckingham Palace. But this time, it will reportedly be hosted at Windsor Castle, where the 95-year-old is currently recovering from a bad back. The health issues were so worse for the Queen that she had to miss 2021’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. She also could not attend the Remembrance Sunday service at London’s Cenotaph this past Sunday.

Harry had flown to his home country twice after the Megxit in 2020. Once in April after his grandfather's death and then to unveil the statue of his late mother, Princess Diana, in Kensington Palace in July. But Meghan could not accompany her because she was pregnant with their second child Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor when Philip’s funeral happened and for the July event, she was a new mom, who delivered the baby in June.

Meanwhile, people on Twitter have criticized the pair mercilessly after it was reported that they won’t go to the UK for festivities. A user slammed, “That's very cruel.  Grannies love to see their grandchildren at Christmas. And it would be so easy for them to just get on a plane and make an old lady's Christmas.” The second one wrote, “Harry, this could be your grandmother’s last Christmas and it’s her first Christmas as a widow.” “One of these days, perhaps when the Queen is gone, he will regret all of these decisions,” the third user added.

A person said, “Let me rewrite and correct your headline......Meghan tells Harry they are not going to Sandringham. You're welcome.” Another one stated: “It was more likely they weren’t invited! Why should they be after everything they did? They don’t deserve to be near the family that helped raise him and welcomed her with open arms ever again!!!”