I’ve been wondering aloud for a few weeks if we would see the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at all over the Christmas holiday. They’ve been in the wind since all of the events around Remembrance Day, which was mid-November. So they’ve been gone from public view for a full month. Today is the day for the Queen’s annual Buckingham Palace staff party, and on Wednesday, the royals will gather at BP for the annual pre-Christmas lunch before the Queen and other senior royals head to Sandringham. It looks like Harry and Meghan will be missing those events as well.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will miss both of the Queen’s Christmas parties this week, with no plans to return to the UK until the new year. The couple will not be making an appearance at the annual Buckingham Palace party tonight to thank royal staff, sources have confirmed to the Mail. And they will be notably absent from the family’s pre-Christmas lunch at the palace on Wednesday. Insiders stressed there was no snub ‘whatsoever’ intended and the couple had already informed the Queen, who is understanding of the situation.

‘As the couple made clear a few weeks ago, they are taking some time away together as a family,’ said one. ‘This means that they will miss Christmas events.’

Harry and Meghan are currently on a six-week break from royal duties to spend time with baby Archie and will be spending Christmas with the duchess’s mother, Doria Ragland, at an undisclosed location abroad. But some royal officials hoped Harry and Meghan might return long enough to join the Queen’s huge staff party on Monday, which they have attended previously. The Queen hosts the event out of her own pocket each year to thank her royal workers. There was also talk that they would attend the annual turkey and trimmings lunch at Buckingham Palace on the Wednesday before Christmas, shortly before the Queen leaves for Sandringham for the festive season.

They will return to the UK, possibly as late as early January, to launch their new charity after splitting from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

[From The Daily Mail]

I think several things all at once. I think that if Harry and Meghan really are doing the “six weeks off” thing which was widely reported, then the decision to go away for six weeks was one made in consultation with the Queen. Even if Harry and Meghan had decided to skip the Sandringham part of the royal Christmas, they would have been expected to at least make the Buckingham Palace Christmas lunch. So the fact that the Sussexes are skipping EVERYTHING says to me that this was all part of a larger conversation with the Queen, and I also think it’s possible that the Queen – and William, in particular – thought that the distance would be good for everyone involved. I also think that it was probably a combination of the Sussexes being “sent away” and the Sussexes actively wanting to GTFO for six weeks. It’s fascinating to me that the British tabloids don’t have a clue where they are either. I still think they’re staying at Oprah’s house!

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red.