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The queen’s enforcers reportedly told Harry and Meghan “no chance” when the couple asked for a photograph of the Monarch meeting their child Lilibet for the first time.
The revelation of the denied photograph emerged as Harry and Meghan issued their own picture of their daughter to celebrate her first birthday.
The Sussexes issued the picture Monday night, the day after the official end of the Jubilee celebrations. It showed that Lilibet has inherited her father’s red hair.
The picture was taken at their Windsor home, Frogmore Cottage, by Misan Harriman, a photographer who has taken previous personal photographs of the couple and their family.
“They were told no chance. It was a private family meeting”
— Palace Source
The Sun reported that while the queen met Harry and Meghan’s daughter on Thursday, when they were briefly in the U.K. for the Jubilee, no photos of the meeting were taken.
The Daily Beast previously reported that sources had said it was highly unlikely that any such image would be issued.
The Sun quoted a source as saying the royals were nervous about a photograph of the encounter being snapped in case it ended up on U.S. TV networks.
An insider told the newspaper: “Harry and Meghan wanted their photographer to capture the moment Lilibet met the queen.
“But they were told no chance. It was a private family meeting.”
The Sussexes’ relationship with the queen is thought to have been damaged when the couple named their daughter Lilibet, the queen’s nickname as a child, without seeking her permission first.
The denial of an official photograph with the queen was just one of many sleights dished out to Harry and Meghan over the course of the Jubilee.
The couple left the U.K. on a private jet before the main event of the final day—a pageant in honor of the queen through the streets of London—had started, and were in the air when Her Majesty appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony.
A friend of the royals characterised their hasty departure as attention seeking and peevish, telling The Daily Beast: “Would it have killed them to wait a few hours?”
They were seen in public only once in an official capacity in the course of the Jubilee celebrations, attending a Thanksgiving service for the reign of the queen. Audible boos were heard among the more usual cheers as they climbed the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral, and they were seated far away from important working royals such as Charles and William. Video of the event appears to show Meghan turning away when Kate walks past her.
