Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have always spoken of their admiration and affection for the late Queen, but it appears that all was not as it seemed.

Harry and Meghan pictured with the late Queen in 2021 (Image: GETTY)

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle appeared to brutally “snub” the late Queen Elizabeth II twice in 2019 – just weeks before their royal exit.

According to expert Robert Lacey, Meghan and Harry refused two separate invitations from the late monarch to spend time with the Royal Family.

Back in 2019, the late monarch invited the couple and their then-newborn son Archie to spend some of the summer holiday with her at Balmoral.

The second invitation came when the late Queen wanted Harry, Meghan and Archie – now aged five – to spend Christmas at Sandringham. The family, instead, opted to spend six weeks in Canada instead.

During these occasions, Meghan and Harry were still senior working royals, with their departure from royal duties being announced in early 2020.

As per the Mirror, Mr Lacey previously said: “To compound it, as the Christmas holidays approached Harry and Meghan snubbed the Queen for a second time. They had not gone to stay at Balmoral with her in the summer, and they decided that they couldn’t join her at Sandringham for the New Year break either.”

Speaking about the summer visit to Balmoral, royal author Tom Bower previously claimed in his book ‘Revenge’ that Meghan felt Archie was “too young at three months to travel by plane to Scotland”.

Reports via the Mirror and Spanish publications later suggested that Meghan and Harry had instead flown, along with Archie, to the Balearic island of Ibiza. It later emerged they also travelled to Nice shortly after the trip, where they stayed at Elton John’s private villa.

Harry and Meghan, who are now also parents to three-year-old Lilibet, announced that they were stepping down as senior working royals in 2020. The couple now reside with their children in California.