Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could snub Princess Beatrice’s wedding as they prepare to step down as senior royals, a friend has claimed.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are starting a new life with son Archie in Canada and will cease to be working royals on March 31.
It is not yet clear what future royal functions, if any, they will choose to attend, but on Friday Harry and Meghan released a statement announcing they would stop using the word ‘royal’ in their branding after Spring.
They complained the palace is treating them differently to other family members and a royal source claims this is a reference to minor royals such as Beatrice and Eugenie.
The apparent dig at the cousins suggests that tensions are rising between the Sussexes and the Yorks, and that Harry and Meghan may not attend Princess Beatrice’s nuptials at St James Palace, on May 29.
Princess Beatrice of York and her betrothed Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi arrive for the wedding ceremony of the Prince Napoleon Countess Arco-Zinneberg at the Saint-Louis-des-Invalides cathedral at the Invalides National Hotel in Paris, on October 19, 2019
A friend told The Telegraph: ‘Of course Harry and Meghan will be invited but it is up to them whether or not they choose to attend.’
‘The trouble with Harry and Meghan is that they think they are bigger than the institution. It’s such a shame things have turned out like this.’
The Princesses, daughters of the Queen’s second son Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, are not currently considered to be senior working royals, because they do not carry out duties full time on behalf of the Queen.
Instead the sisters, who are ninth and tenth in line to the throne, both have full time jobs.
Princess Beatrice, who is known as Beatrice York in her professional life, studied History and the History of Ideas at Goldsmith’s University before taking on roles at boutique private wealth firms.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are starting a new life with son Archie in Canada and will cease to be working royals on March 31
She also worked as an associate at Sandbridge capital, a small consumer-focused private equity firm, and as a Business development associate at Sony pictures television before resigning in 2014.
Meanwhile Princess Eugenie works as a director for Mayfair-based gallery Hauser & Wirth.
The royal, who like her sister receives no money from the Queen, graduated from Newcastle University in September 2009, after studying English Literature and the History of Art.
After completing her studies, Eugenie moved to New York to work for online auction firm Paddle8, before moving back to London in 2015 to start a career with Hauser & Wirth.
The sisters currently attend a handful of royal events a year, including occasionally joining the Queen at one of her annual garden parties in the summer, and making an appearance with other royals at Trooping the Colour.
It comes after the extraordinary statement on their website claiming that the Queen does not own the word royal across the world after they were forced to drop their ‘Sussex Royal’ brand.
The Daily Mail revealed that Buckingham Palace had told Harry and Meghan not to employ the name Sussex Royal when they are no longer working royals
Harry and Meghan put a new statement on their own website hours after announcing they would stop using the word ‘royal’ in their branding after the Spring – and they insisted on keeping their HRH titles even though they would not ‘actively use’ them.
The statement struck a more hostile tone in some sections, and said that neither the government nor the Queen herself own the word ‘royal’ internationally – but they would nonetheless stop using the title.
The statement read: ‘While there is not any jurisdiction by The Monarchy or Cabinet Office over the use of the word ‘Royal’ overseas, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex do not intend to use ‘Sussex Royal’ or any iteration of the word ‘Royal’ in any territory (either within the UK or otherwise) when the transition occurs Spring 2020.’
They also appeared to complain that the palace is treating them differently to other family members.
The statement continued: ‘While there is precedent for other titled members of the Royal Family to seek employment outside of the institution, for The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, a 12-month review period has been put in place.
‘Per the agreement The Duke and Duchess of Sussex understand that they are required to step back from Royal duties and not undertake representative duties on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen.’
A statement issued by the palace last month stated that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will no longer use their HRH titles.
Meghan and Harry’s statement states, however, that they will keep the prefixes His and Her Royal Highness.
They go on to claim that the titles will not be used ‘actively’ when the couple cease being working members of the firm.