Tom Bower Claims Charles Blocked Meghan Balmoral Trip
New claims about the hours before Queen Elizabeth II’s death have resurfaced after royal biographer Tom Bower alleged King Charles objected to Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, travelling to Balmoral with Prince Harry on the day the monarch died in September 2022. The episode has long drawn attention because members of the Royal Family were rushing to Scotland as the Queen’s health deteriorated.
In its account of Bower’s biography Woman & Home reported that Charles considered Meghan’s plan to accompany Prince Harry “unacceptable” and phoned his son again, with Bower writing that the King was thinking about the late Queen’s “disappointment” amid the Sussexes’ criticism of the monarchy.
Bower is quoted as claiming that the King believed his mother was “shocked by Harry’s disloyalty”, and the article notes he also suggested Meghan was “unwelcome” because she had declined invitations to Balmoral during Queen Elizabeth’s lifetime. The report adds that a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex previously dismissed the book’s claims as “deranged conspiracy and melodrama”.
Prince Harry’s memoir described his father calling to explain why Meghan would not travel, though he wrote that the reasons “didn’t make any sense at all” and felt “disrespectful”, while also noting Catherine, Princess of Wales, would not be joining the trip either; more recently, the King has faced separate scrutiny in commentary urging him to keep his distance from Harry and Meghan amid continuing tensions.
The renewed focus highlights how even private family decisions from the Queen’s final hours remain a flashpoint, with contrasting accounts continuing to shape public understanding of the relationship between the King and the Sussexes.
