Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond tells OK! why missing the 2027 Invictus Games could be the ultimate snub from Meghan Markle, and which excuse won’t cut it (Image: WireImage)Sign up to our free email to get all the latest royal news and picturesMore Newsletters SubscribePlease enter a valid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later.More NewslettersWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More infoThank you for subscribing!We have more newslettersShow me See OurPrivacy Notice See OurPrivacy Notice×Group 28 Sign up to our free email to get all the latest royal news and picturesInvalid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later.Sign UpNo thanks, closeWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info×Group 28Thank you for subscribing!We have more newslettersShow MeNo thanks, closeSee our
Privacy NoticeIt has this week been revealed that the Invictus Games will return to the UK, with the tournament set to take place in Birmingham for it’s 2027 instalment – bringing the games back to Britain for the first time since the inaugural competition in 2014, which was held in London. And with the games founded by Prince Harry, the royal will no doubt be making a return for the occasion. Since beginning his relationship with now-wife Meghan Markle, the couple have attended the games together – but will this return to the UK see the first time Meghan, who, excluding an airport crossover, hasn’t returned to Britain since 2022, doesn’t attend the games? Meghan and Harry have often expressed their worry over the security risk posed by returning to the UK, with the couple also using this as the excuse to not visit. However, speaking exclusively to OK!, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond explains that this reasoning wouldn’t explain an Invictus Games snub. Sign up to OK’s royal newsletter to get updates sent to your inbox for free
Meghan last spent time in the UK in 2022
(Image: Getty Images)
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As we probed whether an absent Meghan would be the ‘ultimate snub’, Jennie explained: “There is the whole issue of security. Unless this is resolved and Harry gets the guaranteed police protection he feels he needs for himself and his family – – a demand that I have some sympathy with – – I can’t see him bringing Meghan and the children here.” She continued, “The security issue always provides a credible excuse for Meghan and the children not coming to the UK. Personally, I don’t think she ever wants to come here again , but I think she will be acutely aware that her absence at something like the Invictus games – – her husband‘s greatest achievement – – would signal more than a concern about safety. “It would tell us that nothing is going to drag her back to the UK, even though it is the land of her husband‘s birth and Harry has said he wants his children to know and understand their heritage.”
Harry and Meghan were once known as the ‘fab four’ alongside William and Kate
(Image: GETTY)
However, 2027 is still three years away, a time during which Jennie hopes there can be some change. She shared: “An awful lot can happen in three years. An Invictus games without Harry is unthinkable and I am sure he will be there. But it would be extremely telling if his wife decided not to attend the games in Birmingham….especially as it will be exactly ten years since she was introduced to the world as Harry’s girlfriend at the Toronto Games. “You would think that this would be the perfect opportunity for the whole family to forgive, if not forget, the rift and hurt of recent years. But there have been so many “perfect opportunities“ for that to happen: the death of Prince Philip and then the Queen, followed by the coronation were all chances when many people imagined the ill feeling of the past could be put to bed.
Jennie suggests that both Meghan and their children should be by Harry’s side for the games
(Image: Netflix)
“But it hasn’t happened, and Meghan has made it very obvious that she absolutely does not want to set foot in the UK: when she passed through Heathrow on the way to Nigeria earlier this year , she decided that the VIP area at the airport was as far as she wanted to venture.” Sharing that many events are happening around the games, Jennie suggests that this could be prime time for a reconciliation. “The Birmingham games are scheduled for July 2027. That’s the month that Queen Camilla will be 80 years old and I think we can expect a celebration to mark that. In an ideal world, Harry and Meghan and their children would be over here, attending the Invictus games and celebrating with the rest of the family this milestone in Camilla‘s life. But that’s probably where the fairytale ends. “Even if Charles and Camilla decide to bury the hatchet and attend the games, I still can’t see any way that the rift between Harry and Meghan and William and Catherine will ever be mended.”Story SavedYou can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnCamillaMeghan MarklePrince HarryPrince PhilipWilliamRoyal Family
