Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, stands next to King Charles, Anne, Princess Royal, and William, Prince of Wales, as they salute during the state funeral and burial of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, in London, Britain, September 19, 2022. Picture: REUTERS/Hannah McKay
Prince Harry was left "completely by himself" during Queen Elizabeth's final hours, a new book has claimed.
The Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, were in the UK for a series of engagements in September 2022 when the 39-year-old prince received a surprise call from his father, now-King Charles, informing him he needed to make his way to Scotland to see his grandmother "immediately".
However, according to Omid Scobie's new book 'Endgame', Harry was unable to arrange travel with the rest of his family because his brother, Prince William, allegedly ignored his messages.
In an extract from the book obtained by People magazine, the author wrote: "William, whom Charles had just spoken to, was supposedly working on arranging travel. Harry sent a text message to his brother asking how he and Kate planned to get to Scotland and whether they could travel together. No response.
"With no further information from other family members or Palace aides, the Sussexes and their team had to operate in the dark. Harry was informed that William had already secured a flight with his uncles Andrew and Edward (and Edward’s wife, Sophie), but he couldn’t get in touch with anyone about joining that flight. 'It was upsetting to witness,' said a source close to the Sussexes. '[Harry] was completely by himself on this.' ”
Harry was then told to make the trip without Meghan and was still "ignored" by his brother when he reached out again, eventually booking a private charter flight.
The book continued: Though rumours of the Queen’s passing were rife at this point, Harry had no way of knowing whether it was true. His father doesn’t carry a cell phone and his brother wasn’t acknowledging his existence.
"When William and the others landed at 3:50pm to discover the news that the Queen had passed away at 3:10pm, Harry still had no idea what was going on when his own plane finally took off at 5:35pm.
And, as his phone service cut out after takeoff, he remained in the dark for the duration of his 70-minute flight."
According to the author, Harry's team "begged" Buckingham Palace not to announce the queen's death before the prince's plane landed.
However, he wrote: "But as stormy weather over Aberdeen International forced Harry’s plane to circle the airport numerous times before landing, patience at the Buckingham Palace press office wore thin — they could wait no longer and the announcement went live at 6:30pm.
When Harry’s plane finally touched tarmac twenty minutes later, he received a text from Meghan urging him to call ASAP followed by a breaking news alert via the BBC News app with the announcement of the Queen’s death...
"'Harry was crushed,' said a friend of the duke. 'His relationship with the Queen was everything to him. She would have wanted him to know before it went out to the world. They could have waited just a little longer, it would have been nothing in the grand scheme of things, but no one respected that at all.' ”
Arriving at Balmoral, Harry was greeted by his aunt, Princess Anne, and spent a quite moment in the queen's room, but didn't see his father, brother, or stepmother Queen Camilla.
The book revealed: "He had hoped to see his father — who had made it to Balmoral Castle in time to see his mother alive — to express his sympathies, but he was informed that Charles, William, and Camilla had already left for Birkhall together.
"Again, no invite was extended to Harry. That night after eating he retired to his room, exhausted by the day’s emotional roller coaster.
“He was glad to have had a private moment to say goodbye to his grandmother, but there was no point in sticking around.
"With no offer to return with William and the others in the morning (all of his texts, including a thoughtful message about the loss of their grandmother, continued to be ignored), Harry booked his own British Airways ticket on the first available departing flight."