The Queen is unable to attend her new great-grandson Archie’s christening tomorrow after a major diary clash.
Harry and Meghan had originally planned to hold the baptism at Windsor Castle today, it can be revealed, and made plans with their son’s new godparents and the duchess’s mother Doria – only to discover that both the Queen and Prince Charles had prior engagements.
After a family conference, they agreed to move the date to tomorrow to accommodate Charles, who has been in Wales for the week to mark his 50 years as Prince of Wales.
The Queen had long planned to spend the weekend with Prince Philip at Sandringham, where she will visit the Royal Stud, and decided to bow out graciously. While the monarch has not been able to attend all of her great-grandchildren’s christenings – she missed Prince Louis’s baptism last year – it is understood that she would have liked to be present for the first big celebration for Harry’s first child.
The Queen, pictured today on a visit to Gorgie City Farm in Edinburgh, will not attend Archie’s christening on Saturday
Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor was meant to be christened on Friday, but the date was moved to accommodate Prince Charles
Did Meghan drop godparent hint?
She has controversially vowed to keep the identity of her son Archie’s godparents secret. But yesterday Meghan gave a teasing clue as to the identity of at least two as she enjoyed an afternoon watching her close friend Serena Williams play at Wimbledon.
The Duchess of Sussex was accompanied by two of her oldest friends, Lindsay Roth and Genevieve Hillis.
Sitting in an area for the special guests of players, accompanied by two bodyguards and a personal assistant, Meghan wore a striped blazer, jeans, a Panama hat and a sweet gold necklace with the initial A on it. She could be seen cheering and clapping whenever Miss Williams won a point.
Miss Roth and Miss Hillis met Meghan when they studied together at Northwestern University in Illinois.
Yesterday Meghan gave a teasing clue as to the identity of at least two as she enjoyed an afternoon watching her close friend Serena Williams play at Wimbledon
TV producer and writer Miss Roth later wrote a book, What Pretty Girls Are Made Of, about an aspiring actress – a character many believe was based on Meghan.
The pair remain close. Miss Roth is married to an Englishman – Meghan was one of her bridesmaids – and lives in London. Miss Hillis, who appears to have flown in specially from the US, was in the same sorority – female society – as Meghan at university.
She could be seen sitting behind the duchess’s mother Doria at last year’s royal wedding and Meghan holidayed with her privately in New York before her baby shower in February.
After winning her match, Miss Williams, 37, said she knew Meghan was watching but revealed she would not be at tomorrow’s royal christening, saying: ‘I’m working.’
But because her diary is so busy – like any head of state it is often filled with engagements a year in advance – it was felt that it would be difficult to find another day that suited the couple and their friends. The situation has surprised some senior staff at Buckingham Palace, who feel that the duke and duchess should have planned the day better.
‘There is huge support for the couple in not wanting to conform to tradition. They are young, they are striking out on a different path from other members of the Royal Family and there is enormous goodwill for them. But they shouldn’t do that without regard for tradition,’ said one. ‘Her Majesty was already scheduled to be in Scotland for her annual Holyrood Week and had a prior engagement at the weekend. There is a feeling amongst some that they should have been more accommodating about the date.’
Holyrood Week is one of the most important days in the sovereign’s calendar, when she carries out engagements across Scotland, staying in Edinburgh’s Palace of Holyrood House, her official residence north of the border.
It is one of the ‘non-negotiable’ dates in her diary and after an exhausting five days, the elderly monarch is flying straight to Norfolk rather than go back to London.
It is normal for her to take in Sandringham, where she and her husband spend a private weekend together, before she returns to Buckingham Palace for her final official engagements before the summer break. Sources close to Harry and Meghan insist the Queen is ‘happy’ with the decision and was understanding of their keenness to see their son christened sooner rather than later.
‘They went to her office with the date and a collective decision was made,’ said one. ‘The Queen has had the US state visit and Holyrood Week in quick succession and has had this weekend with the Duke of Edinburgh in her diary for a long time.’ The source said this was one of the reasons that the historic photograph of the Queen with her new great-grandson was issued shortly after his birth.
‘Their office knew then that she wouldn’t be able to attend and it was agreed that it would be a nice touch as Her Majesty wouldn’t be in the official photographs,’ they said. ‘The original date of Friday was changed to Saturday to accommodate the Prince of Wales, who is, after all, Archie’s grandfather.
‘While this was the best weekend for friends and family coming over from the US, they did just really want to hold the christening as soon as possible, before everyone disappears for the summer.
Her Majesty had long planned to spend the weekend with Prince Philip at Sandringham, where she will visit the Royal Stud, and decided to bow out graciously
The situation has surprised some senior staff at Buckingham Palace, who feel that the duke and duchess should have planned the day better
‘As a family they took a collective decision that this was the best option.’ This week it emerged that Harry and Meghan are refusing to reveal their choices as Archie’s godparents, saying they want the identities to remain private.
The couple, who have already denied any public access to the proceedings at Windsor Castle, have decided not to allow TV cameras in to record the Royal Family arriving. They will instead release a small number of images taken by their own photographer.
When Archie was born in May they refused even to announce where the duchess had given birth – the Daily Mail later revealed it had been at the Portland Hospital in London. However it has been confirmed that Archie will be baptised by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby.
The fact that the seventh in line to the throne is being welcomed into the Church of England by its most senior figure after the Queen has raised questions over Harry and Meghan’s demands for privacy. The Dean of Chelmsford, Nicholas Henshall, told the BBC: ‘Baptism should never be private. It’s a public demonstration of God’s love.’
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge allowed the media to cover each of their children’s christenings, as well as releasing family photographs afterwards.