https://www.yahoo.com/news/harry-meghan-asked-ride-home-202432533.html
Harry and Meghan ‘asked to ride home on Air Force One’ after Elizabeth II’s funeral
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex asked if they could fly back from Elizabeth II’s funeral with
on Air Force One, it has been alleged.
Sources close to the couple have not denied the claim.
The couple are said to have asked White House staff if they could join the US President and his wife on the journey home, but were swiftly rebuffed.
The alleged proposition raises the extraordinary prospect that the Duke and Duchess wanted to be photographed climbing the steps of the famous Boeing 747 to wave alongside the President and First Lady of the United States.
But sources with knowledge of the decision said there was little discussion about the request as it was generally agreed that it was a “non-starter”.
One told MailOnline: “It would have caused such a commotion. It would have strained relations with the Palace and the new King.”
The White House declined to comment on the claim. A spokesman for the Sussexes also declined to comment.
The Duke and Duchess were in the UK when Elizabeth II died on September 8 as they had flown over to carry out various charity engagements.
They stayed in the country for two weeks until the funeral but fraught family relations prompted dramas including a mistaken invitation to a state reception at Buckingham Palace, confusion over military uniforms and a dispute about when Prince Harry was told about his grandmother’s death.
The couple are thought to have returned home on the day after the funeral with their own private security team feeling more ostracised from the Royal family than ever.
The Duke and Duchess previously enjoyed a good working relationship with the Bidens and it was one they were keen to cultivate after stepping away from royal duties as they tried to establish themselves as powerful establishment figures in the US.
As such,
was invited to attend the 2022 Invictus Games in The Hague but that too was declined, The Telegraph has confirmed.
British officials are understood to have conveyed to National Security Council staff in a “working level conversation” that they thought the idea would land badly with the palace.
Both Bidens attended the Invictus Games in Canada in 2017 and the First Lady attended the 2016 games in Florida.
She is said to have been keen to attend the 2022 event, not least as she runs her own Joining Forces Initiative and is a keen supporter of the military and their families.
A further attempt to ingratiate themselves with the Bidens saw the Duchess send a basket of lemons to the First Lady after interpreting a sartorial choice as a show of support.
The day after the Sussexes’ controversial Oprah Winfrey interview aired in March 2021, Jill Biden wore an Oscar de la Renta dress with a lemon pattern to the State Department’s International Women of Courage Awards.
It bore a striking resemblance to a dress that Meghan had worn for a Spotify event the previous month and was seen in some quarters as a message of solidarity with the Duchess after she had described her tortuous relationship with the Royal family.
The Duchess has made no secret of her political ambitions, having personally called US senators on their mobile phones to lobby for a change in the law on paid parental leave.
She said it was “critical in those first few weeks” to be together as a family and used a television interview to note that the US is “the only country in the entire world” that does not have such a policy, adding: “I will do everything I can to make sure we can implement that for people.”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Feel free to comment, even if you disagree with me ( smile )