The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be absent from the Duke of Westminster and Olivia Henson's wedding on Friday. Among the notable guests attending the ceremony in Chester will be Prince William, who will be taking on the role of usher.
Hugh Grosvenor, the seventh Duke of Westminster, shares a close connection with the royal family, being friends with both the Prince of Wales and Prince Harry. Both royal brothers have even made the Duke of Westminster godfather to their sons, Prince George and Prince Archie.
© GettyDespite their close relationship, Prince Harry and Meghan have chosen not to attend the event. One of the reasons could be that the brothers are not on great terms and don't want to make things complicated for the groom.
Even if Prince Harry had decided to attend, Meghan would not have travelled to the UK with the Duke, for the same reason she didn't attend the Invictus Games service in London last month due to the issue surrounding their security.
In a recent episode of HELLO!'s A Right Royal Podcast, The Telegraph's Royal Editor Hannah Furness talks about why Meghan is unlikely to return to the UK anytime soon.
"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," she says. "But he [Harry] will certainly be coming and going." Listen to the full episode here...
LISTEN: The reason why Meghan and her children don't want to visit the UK just yet
Prince Harry 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.
His lawyers filed an emotional witness statement to the High Court in December, in which the Duke explained why he and Meghan felt they had to move to the US after stepping back as senior royals in 2020.
The father-of-two wrote: "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 US. That cannot happen if it’s not possible to keep them safe when they are on UK soil.
© WPA Pool"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."
Relations between Harry and the royal family have become strained in recent years, following explosive claims about Charles, his stepmother Queen Camilla, and the Prince and Princess of Wales in the Sussexes' Oprah Winfrey interview, their Netflix docuseries and Harry's memoir, Spare.
DUKE OF WESTMINSTER: FACT FILE
Meet the Duke of Westminster
© Getty- Hugh Grosvenor is the 7th Duke of Westminster
- He is the third child and only son of Natalia and the late Gerald Grosvenor
- He inherited the dukedom, a huge fortune and Eaton Hall at the age of 25
- The Duke was styled as Earl Grosvenor from his birth in 1991 until his father's death in 2016
- He studied at Mostyn House School and Ellesmere College in Shropshire
- Obtained a degree in Countryside Management from Newcastle University
His staggering net worth
- Hugh topped this year's Sunday Times 40 Under 40 Rich List, boasting a fortune of £10.1 billion
- He is Chair of both the Grosvenor Trustees and the Westminster Foundation
- Grosvenor Group owns about 300 acres of land in Mayfair and Belgravia
Other facts
- He is known as Hughie among friends
- Owns half of Mayfair
- The Duke represents Team GB at Olympic Skeet Shooting competitions
- He is also President of the national charity, the Country Trust
