Prince William, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle missed last night's major royal event
Last night (Tuesday 3 December) was a big moment in the royal calendar, when Buckingham Palace played host to NATO leaders, their partners and delegates to celebrate 70 years of the NATO alliance. But out of the youngest generation of senior royals, only Kate Middleton attended. So where were Prince William, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to accompany her?
Luckily, all three had pretty watertight excuses. Prince William was otherwise engaged on a mini overseas tour when the NATO event took place. The Duke of Cambridge was on an official visit to Kuwait and Oman at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which he returns from today.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, on the other hand, have taken a leave of absence of royal duties for the last six weeks of the year to enable them to spend some quality family time with their young son, Archie. After Meghan only took five months of maternity leave, it's thought the family requested some extra time off to enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas split between the US and the UK.
While we don't know exactly where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will spend Christmas, we know where they won't be: at the Sandringham Estate with the rest of the royal family. An official statement from the Palace last month confirmed that "having spent the last two Christmases at Sandringham, their royal highnesses will spend the holiday this year, as a new family, with the duchess' mother Doria Ragland."
While William, Harry and Meghan were MIA yesterday, Queen Elizabeth welcomed world leaders including Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron to Buckingham Palace, marking 70 years since 29 North American and European countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty. The monarch was joined, not only by granddaughter-in-law Kate Middleton for the occasion, but also by Prince Charles, Camilla Parker-Bowles, and Princess Anne.
And Princess Anne hilariously made headlines this morning, after a video of her supposedly 'snubbing' US President Donald Trump picked up traction online. In the video, the Princess Royal is given a stern eye by her mother, Queen Elizabeth for remaining at the back of the room instead of coming to greet Donald Trump.
When the Queen glances over catches Anne's gaze, the Princess simply shrugs as if to say, I'm not coming over.
If only we could find out how that one plays out behind the scenes...
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