The Queen has reportedly extended an olive branch to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle by inviting them to the Platinum Jubilee celebrations next year.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will reportedly join the Royal family at Trooping the Colour and the Queen’s official birthday parade in London next summer.
The two events will form part of the jubilee festivities next June which were confirmed by Buckingham Palace earlier this month.
But Mail on Sunday says it is undecided whether Harry and Meghan will appear on the Palace balcony beside the Queen and other senior Royals for the traditional RAF flypast.
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Jubilee celebrations in the past have involved two balcony appearances.
But if aides decide to limit the number of people to working Royals only this would exclude Harry and Meghan who sensationally quit the family to move to the US.
A source with knowledge of the jubilee plans told the media outlet: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been invited and I’m sure the Queen is very much looking forward to seeing them there.
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“The balcony moment will be decided much nearer the time but there’s a limit to how many family members should be on it, and I would have thought that working Royals who contribute to the family would be higher on the list than the Sussexes.”
Celebrations to mark the Queen’s 70 years on the throne will last all next year and includes an extra four-day Bank Holiday from June 2 – 5.
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When the Diamond Jubilee took place in 2012 the Queen was joined on the balcony by Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the then single Prince Harry.
Prince Philip was ill so was absent.
Prince Andrew complained that his brother Charles had cut him out of key celebrations.
And as Charles favours a ‘slimmed down’ monarchy it is being speculated that he may cut the number of people on the balcony even further.
However Harry and Meghan fans may claim they have been snubbed if they are not allowed on the balcony.
Sir Michael Stevens, keeper of the privy purse, said maintenance work at Buckingham Palace ahead of the jubilee events had been sped up during the pandemic to make sure ‘it can play a significant part in those celebrations, such as garden parties and of course the balcony appearance at Trooping the Colour’.
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Harry is currently in the UK after arriving on Friday to unveil a statue of his late mother alongside his older brother William despite a feud between the siblings.
The 36-year-old is believed to be self-isolating at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor for five days before he and William, 39, will reunite at Kensington Palace on July 1 on what would have been Princess Diana’s 60th birthday.