Meghan Markle would never have joined her husband Prince Harry on a trip back to the UK, had the royal decided to attend his good friend, the Duke of Westminster’s wedding on Friday for one key reason, a royal commentator has claimed.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be absent from today’s lavish ceremony in Chester, where Hugh Grosvenor will be marrying Olivia Henson, despite having been invited.

Around 400 guests will be in attendance, including Harry’s older brother, Prince William, who will be an usher during the service.

Harry and William share a close relationship with Hugh – named Britain’s richest person under 40 – with both of the brothers making him godfather to their sons, Prince Archie and Prince George.

But while sources claimed Harry and Hugh reached a “mutual agreement” that it would be best for him not to attend, it has become clear that had he chosen to do otherwise, Meghan wouldn’t have travelled with him due to concerns regarding their security in the country.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle need to arrange key thing before their return to the UK (Image: Getty)

The Telegraph’s royal editor Hannah Furness recently told Hello!’s A Right Royal Podcast: “There is quite a heavy narrative that Meghan and the children won’t be coming back until they can resolve this security issue to their liking.

“But he [Harry] will certainly be coming and going.”

The Duke of Sussex took legal action against the Home Office over the February 2020 decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) that he should receive a different degree of taxpayer-funded protection when in the country.

Ravec’s decision came as a result of a change in the duke’s “status” after he stopped being a “full-time working member of the Royal Family”, a judge was told.

Hugh Grosvenor will be marrying Olivia Henson on Friday (Image: Getty)
 

In a judgment in February, retired High Court judge Sir Peter Lane rejected the duke’s case in a 52-page ruling and concluded Ravec’s approach was not irrational nor procedurally unfair.

Harry previously expressed during a hearing for the case through a written statement: “It was with great sadness for both of us that my wife and I felt forced to step back from this role and leave the country in 2020. The UK is my home.

“The UK is central to the heritage of my children and a place I want them to feel at home, as much as where they live at the moment in the United States. That cannot happen if it’s not possible to keep them safe when they are on UK soil.

“I cannot put my wife in danger like that and, given my experiences in life, I am reluctant to unnecessarily put myself in harm’s way too.”