One of the most hilarious things to me is to watch Salt Islanders read tea leaves and conduct seances to try to figure out what the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will do. Harry and Meghan clearly aren’t telling the British media their plans, and what’s even funnier is that they’re not telling the royal offices their plans either. If Harry called someone at Kensington Palace and was like “this is what flight I’m taking,” that information would be leaked in under an hour. If Harry told Clarence House the date of his return, Charles would ramp up his own PR and begin telling everyone that he’s a peacemaking bridge-builder and here’s the proof. All of which to say, the Royalist column at the Daily Beast thinks they know Harry’s plan for this spring and summer, conditionally of course. My guess is that Buckingham Palace sources have leaked it.

Harry’s plans: Prince Harry is likely to miss Prince Philip’s memorial at the end of this month and the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June, but may instead make a “personal visit” to his grandmother next month when he is traveling to Europe to attend the Invictus Games, a source has told The Daily Beast.

A reconciliation & PR boost: The concept of Harry dropping in to “pay his respects” privately to Queen Elizabeth will help pave the way for a larger reconciliation between the Sussexes and the Windsors. It may also provide a convenient way for Harry to show that his beef is with the institution of royalty, not his esteemed grandma herself—and there is always the possibility that Harry could overcome his security concerns to bring baby Lilibet to meet her namesake for the first time. A photo of that meeting would be a valuable PR boost to the increasingly fractured Windsor family.

LOL Harry isn’t telling anyone anything: The source told The Daily Beast there was a significant level of confusion over Harry’s movements on both sides this summer, saying: “Things have changed. He was hoping to attend the Philip memorial, but that is now considered more unlikely. The jubilee is a bit harder to call right now. They have no formal role in it and are not expected to be on the (Buckingham Palace) balcony. It’s not ruled out, but the assumption now is that he won’t come because the people who would need to know have not been told he is. However, he is coming to Europe next month for Invictus [the Games take place in the Netherlands in April]. The theory is that he could easily stop in and pay his respects to his grandmother in this jubilee year then.”

Lilibet meeting Lilibet? The possibility of a private visit also raises the tantalizing option of Lilibet’s first ever meeting with the woman she is named after. Harry and Meghan are both thought to be extremely keen to bring their children to see his grandmother, the source said. Indeed, Harry recently said the reason he is fighting for police protection is so that his wife and children can safely “know” the country of his birth, and it seems safe to conclude that includes knowing his sovereign grandmother.

The Sussexes attending Jubbly events? It is notable that both sides are unwilling to commit definitively, even in background briefings, either way about Harry and family’s attendance at this summer’s events, suggesting there may yet be a possible deal that allows the Sussexes to attend some of the pageantry. Some, such as Christopher Andersen, still believe Harry will be there: “There is no way Harry will exclude himself or his family from the jubilee,” he says.

If the Sussexes do come for the Jubbly, they won’t be on the balcony: But there is also the issue of what Meghan and Harry are likely to see as the ritual humiliation of their exclusion from the all-important balcony tableau. Sources have consistently told The Daily Beast that only those in the direct line of succession—Charles and William and their spouses—will be invited onto the Buckingham Palace balcony for the climactic moment of the celebrations, a flypast of Buck House by the Royal Air Force aerobatics team, the Red Arrows. Harry may still officially be sixth in the line of succession, but by the logic of 2012 there wouldn’t be room for someone on the balcony who has said they will not be playing a major part in the business of royalty. It’s just possible that this is the deal-breaker which decides whether or not Harry and Meghan will at the last minute change their minds and come to the jubilee.

[From The Daily Beast]

It’s always hilarious – ALWAYS – that these people can’t get out of their own way long enough to step back and say “actually, how would it look to exclude Meghan and Harry from the balcony?” The Windsors should do everything they can to ensure that the charismatic Sussexes attend the Jubbly and stand on the balcony. But of course the Windsors won’t, because they’re so short-sighted and burdened with their salty grudges. I would love it if Meghan and Harry avoided the Jubbly altogether – because who cares, honestly – and just breezed into London for a few days, visited the Queen and no one else and refused to release any photos. That would be amazing. And again, this is just stuff being leaked by BP – the Sussexes are not telling anyone their plans.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.