Harry ‘adamant’ aunt Sarah Ferguson isn’t invited to his wedding to Meghan Markle
PRINCE Harry has not invited aunt Sarah Ferguson to his wedding to Meghan Markle, The Sun on Sunday can reveal.
Invites to the 600 guests who have made the guestlist for the royal event of the year will be sent out this week - but The Duchess of York will not be receiving one.
Fergie will be devastated that she will not attend alongside ex-husband Prince Andrew and her daughters Eugenie and Beatrice at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on May 19.
It is a particular snub given she will be forced to be reunited with the royals for the first time at Eugenie’s own wedding to Jack Brooksbank later this year.
A royal insider revealed: “The Duchess of York is not invited to Harry’s wedding. The invites are being sent out this week and she’s not on the list.
“Fergie has been told to keep a low profile before Eugene’s wedding and not to go on talk shows or give interviews about the royal family. She’s not happy about it.
“Eugenie’s wedding is going to be a nightmare because so many of the family can’t stand the Duchess. It’s very uncomfortable.
“She is still lobbying for an invite but Harry remains adamant he doesn’t want her there.”
Another friend added: “Harry and Meghan have been close to Eugenie and Jack, which had increased Fergie’s hopes of getting an invite.
“But Harry doesn’t trust Fergie to keep her mouth shut and respect their privacy.”
Fergie, 58, has been considered a royal outcast for many years because of a string of embarrassing incidents, but Prince Andrew remains a staunch defender.
As a result, she was left devastated when she wasn’t invited to Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton in 2011 and fled to Thailand where she watched the nuptials on TV.
In an interview with Oprah in 2011, she said: “I felt that I ostracised myself by my behaviour, by the past, by living with all the regrets of my mistakes, that I sort of wore a hair shirt and beat myself up most of the day thinking and regretting why did I make such a mistake? Why have I made so many mistakes?
“I chose to go and be in Thailand in a place called Kamalaya...the jungle embraced me.”
Fergie branded the decision as “so difficult”, adding: “I wanted to be there with my girls... to be getting them dressed and to go as a family.”
Meanwhile, more details of the highly anticipated wedding are beginning to emerge.
Harry is expected to ask guests to make a donation to his charities instead of giving him a wedding gift via his Royal Foundation.
Our royal wedding source said: “Prince Harry is a man who has everything. He doesn’t want guests spending lots of time buying him extravagant presents but he does want them to support his charity work.
“Obviously he has his own foundation with Prince William and Kate, and he also supports organisations like Wellchild and the Invictus Foundation.
“He’s expected to provide more specific information with the individual invites.”
Harry and Meghan are also going to host a wedding party after the day’s formalities, which will allow for them to invite more guests.
The royal insider explained: “There is a separate party later on, which happened at William and Kate’s wedding, where different and new guests are able to attend who didn’t get an invite to the official ceremony and dinner.
“That guest list is much bigger and there is a different planning stage to that. It’s possible the palace can get around some awkward diplomatic tensions by using the party.”
Former US president Barack Obama is not expected to be on the guest list at this stage to avoid offending Donald Trump.
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The source added: “Obama has caused a headache.
“No heads of state would go to a royal wedding like Harry’s, which automatically rules out Trump, not because he has been snubbed.
“Former heads of state are able to attend, but the view is that if Obama is invited it’s likely to prove a diplomatic headache.”