Harry and Meghan 'excluded' from childhood friend Duke of Westminster's wedding… but Wills & Kate invited to ceremony | The Sun
HARRY and Meghan have not been invited to childhood friend the Duke of Westminster's wedding – but William and Kate will attend the ceremony.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are reportedly not on the guestlist for Hugh Grosvenor's marriage – but William could be best man.
The Prince and Princess of Wales are both expected to attend, amid an ongoing "royal racist" row over a new book about the family.
Both royal couples have the Duke of Westminster as godfather to their children – William and Kate's son Prince George as well as Harry and Meghan's son Prince Archie.
Yet only one pair has been invited to the marriage scheduled for June 7 next year at Chester Cathedral, according to the Sunday Times.
Hugh – worth an estimated £10billion and dubbed "Britain's richest bachelor" – is due to wed Olivia Henson, he announced last April.
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The duke, 32, has been described as "owning half of London", as the head of a property empire snapping up more than 1,500 buildings including the capital's entire Park Lane and Mayfair districts.
He became a billionaire aged 25 with a family ranked as the 12th wealthiest in Britain, according to last year's Sunday Times Rich List.
He has not only enjoyed a lavish life but also a partying past.
Olivia, 30, attended the same school as Kate – Marlborough College in Wiltshire.
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The engaged couple are said to have avoided inviting Harry and Meghan to what's been called "the wedding of the year" to avoid any potential awkwardness for the Royal Family.
Hugh had reportedly wanted the Sussexes to attend but decided against, with King Charles and Queen Camilla among the other guests.
And the Sunday Times report suggests William is in the running to be chosen as Hugh's best man.
Prince George, 10, is also expected to attend.
A friend was quoted as saying: "It's incredibly sad it has come to this – Hugh is one of very few close friends of William and Harry's who has maintained strong bonds and a line of communication with both.
"He wishes they could put their heads together and patch things up, but realises it's unlikely to happen before the wedding.
"He wanted to avoid anything overshadowing the day, especially for Olivia, and doesn't want any awkwardness."
A spokesman for the Duke declined to comment, as did Buckingham Palace.
The news comes as Charles and Kate were both embroiled in a "royal racist" controversy following the publication of a new book by Omid Scobie – previously nicknamed "Meghan's Cheerleader".
His newly-published tome Endgame suggests two royal household members asked about the potential colour of Archie's skin when Meghan was pregnant.
Harry and Meghan first mentioned this being raised by an unnamed family member in an interview with Oprah Winfrey three years ago.
Endgame goes into detail about letters exchanged at the time between Charles and Meghan.
But a Dutch translation of Scobie's book has had to be pulped after it emerged its text named two royals in connection with the claims.
Harry has denied he and Meghan accused anyone in the royal family of "racism", when promoting his memoir Spare earlier this year – though he did suggest there had been "unconscious bias".
The Sun has also now revealed Endgame brands William "heartless", saying he denied his brother a chance to fly to the late Queen Elizabeth II's deathbed.
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Scobie wrote his first biography of Harry and Meghan two years ago, called Finding Freedom.
The Sussexes insisted they didn't help him with it, though a High Court case last year heard they briefed favourable stories via an aide.
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