Over the weekend, Roya Nikkhah at the Sunday Times had a very important royal exclusive: Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, will snub the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and not invite them to his June 2024 wedding. Considering Nikkhah reported it, the big exclusive absolutely came from Kensington Palace. The vibe of the whole story was that Prince William threw a tantrum and demanded that Grosvenor snub the Sussexes, and then William leaked the whole thing as a slam on Harry. Meanwhile, Harry is playing with his children and dogs in sunny California while William rages to Roya. The whole thing is incredibly pathetic. Hilariously, they’re dragging Camilla into it now – there’s a long history of Grosvenor family weddings being the site of royal shenanigans, apparently.
When the Duke of Westminster made the ‘incredibly sad’ decision to exclude the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from his wedding next summer, he was mindful of the royal row that complicated his sister’s ceremony at the same venue. The Daily Mail understands that the Duke, Hugh Grosvenor, was ‘very conscious’ of the tensions surrounding the wedding of Lady Tamara Grosvenor and Edward van Cutsem at Chester Cathedral in 2004 and did not want anything similar at his own.
‘Hugh knows how sensitive wedding invitations can be,’ a friend of the family told this newspaper.
Camilla Parker Bowles was invited to his sister’s wedding but was told that she would not be permitted to sit with Prince Charles and would have to sit several rows back. She would also have to arrive separately. This was because Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were due to attend the ceremony. A Buckingham Palace courtier was quoted as saying at the time: ‘It may provoke comment on the day, but Her Majesty will also be attending and she is a stickler for protocol. A pew will be set aside for the members of the Royal Family attending, and it would be inappropriate for Mrs Parker Bowles to sit beside Prince Charles since she has no official standing. Even for Mrs Parker Bowles to arrive with the Prince at the event, in the presence of the Queen, would be to confer rights and status upon her that she simply does not have.’
There had previously been very few official occasions at which both Mrs Parker Bowles, as she then was, and the Queen had been present. Among them were the Westminster Abbey service for the 50th anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation, a pop concert in the garden of Buckingham Palace to mark the Queen’s Jubilee, and the Queen Mother’s funeral at Westminster Abbey.
According to Viscountess Bangor, better known as the distinguished author Sarah Bradford, Mrs Parker Bowles was apparently so infuriated to read in a newspaper diary column that royal protocol would mean she couldn’t sit beside Charles at the wedding that she told the heir to the throne that the status quo was no longer acceptable. She and Prince Charles pulled out of attending Lady Tamara’s wedding, which, like her brother’s, was described as the society event of the year. It was reported that Charles took the decision because he was unhappy about the treatment of Mrs Parker Bowles.
The wedding was attended by 650 guests, including the Queen, Prince Philip, and Princes William and Harry.
It’s true that the 2004 wedding “seating snub” was some kind of turning point for Camilla, although Charles would not actually propose to Camilla until months after that wedding snub. Weirdly, I think the protocol around seating would be a lot looser at a society wedding than at a royal funeral, but what do I know. In any case, it absolutely sounds like Hugh Grosvenor is being used as pawn in one of William’s unhinged schemes, which is weird because Hugh is a very rich, very important person in British high society. William’s rage and need to drag Hugh into this mess could come back to bite William in a big way. You’ve got to think that many of those aristocrats have been looking for a way to put William in his place.
Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales, Royal Honorary Colonel The Queen's Own Yeomanry, attends a consecration service and presents a new Guidon to The Queen’s Own Yeomanry during a parade at Bramham Park, Bramham.,Image: 387915817, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Hugh Grosvenor,Duke of Westminser, Credit line: John Rainford / Wenn / Avalon
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- Prince and Princess of Wales (William and Kate) attend Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II’s Royal Wedding Banquet at Al Husseinieh Palace in Amman, Jordan, on June 1st, 2023. Featuring: William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Amman, Jordan When: 01 Jun 2023 Credit: Abaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Jordan’s Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II’s Royal Wedding at Zahran Palace in Amman, Jordan Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales, Prince William Where: Amman, Jordan When: 01 Jun 2023 Credit: Nieboer/DDP/INSTARimages **USA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Jordan’s Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II’s Royal Wedding at Zahran Palace in Amman, Jordan Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales, Prince William Where: Amman, Jordan When: 01 Jun 2023 Credit: Nieboer/DDP/INSTARimages **USA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Prince William of Wales and Catherine Princess of Wales during the dinner banquet on Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II and Princess Rajwa their Royal Wedding at Zahran Palace in Amman, Jordan. Featuring: William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Amman, Jordan When: 01 Jun 2023 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
I hope those aristocrats do put Peg in his place. Didn’t Peg used to use Hugh’s private jet? I think I remember a story about that. This is the dumbest stuff which can only be contributed to rich aristocracy problems lol.
Agreed Susan. Peggy is going to regret this.
@Susan Collins: The aristos are not going to do anything William, he’s the future King and they will swear allegiance to him when he ascends the throne. They will always do what he asks.
Wont stop them from ridiculing him behind his back, tho. Ive read enough in the past about brit aristos and how theyve treated the royal family members over time and lets just say, theres no respect or high regard there.
I legit will never understand British high society. In the US it is straight up fame/money/race. It seems way more straight forward.
Ha!! royals are gutter rats
So the aristocrats are as snobbish and stuck-up about royal “protocol” as the royals are; maybe even more so? This isn’t making any of them look good.
Yep.
“to confer rights and status upon her” – they live in an absolute fantasy bubble.
Also, this family are clearly used to being messed around by the petty attitudes of the heirs to the throne, it’s the cost of doing business with the royals.
That quote came from Buck Palace though – the whole protocol thing and Cam not being able to sit next to Chuck was a BP rule. Of course the aristos are snobs, but seating being this tightly controlled is all due to the Windsors and their rules.
I haven’t really thought all the way through this buuuut I think there’s something about how drama in the BRF is both reinforced by, and lends further social power to, the rest of the elite that should be discussed further.
Meghan Markle and the Case of the Bridesmaids’ Tights. Wedding seating. Social invitations. None of those are things that any real person could ever bring themselves to care about. Those are just rules these posh a-holes made up for themselves. The sky wouldn’t fall down if they weren’t followed. Ninety-nine percent of the population wouldn’t even know. No one’s buying magazines or clicking on articles for news about protocols. Well, the Windsors care about all of that. And they get articles about how their aristocrats (and the women that marry into the family) are following their dumb rules, reinforcing the idea that those rules are important. But they’re not, the control they offer is. And it further supports the notion that ALL of these people are worth paying attention to and how they feel about the Windsors matters to the rest of us.
Interestingly, I think that Kate/Rose Hanbury story is the exact same only working in the opposite direction, where the ‘rules’ handcuffed the Cambridges. But, like I said, I haven’t completely figured it out yet.
What your talking about is why they can’t take Harry’s title away. If they do and Harry is still successful. Which he will be. It will just show more people that titles don’t matter at all. But have any of them figured out that the Royal family have no power at all now. Do that actually have that kind of say so in the government? They pretend military, but don’t run the military. And any aristo who actually does have money, knows they really don’t have to bow down to William. And if enough of them get together they can tell William to go away.
@Robert Phillips
Yes, I think you are absolutely right about Harry’s title! His success is supposed to come -from- the Crown. Cutting titles out means they’d all have to rely more on their natural talents, and I don’t know that they’ve got too many of those. Plus, hereditary titles aren’t earned. So what does that mean for them in this day and age when a person’s actions can cause them to lose their title? Which of them ‘deserve’ all that land and money? All the inheritance laws written around preserving their wealth? None, and I bet they don’t want people asking those kinds of questions. If the monarchy folds, the rest of them do too.
Harry probably had something else scheduled and graciously declined. And William is getting this press at a price. What does Hugh want? He’ll get a kickback for this.
We must remember: british society is built on a solid foundation of hypocrisy and hierarchy, where biased, tiered standards are applied to diff demographics. Their hypocrisy and pretentiousness are such that they could be dressed to the nines, slathered in perfumes, yet hadnt bathed for days prior; and dont forget that they are hands-down experts at doublespeak.
Does anyone truly think any of the aristocracy will do anything to this rage filled vindictive and violent man? I highly doubt it, although I would love to see Peggy face some serious consequences for everything he has done.
I do not believe this for one moment. My belief is and always has been that Harry was involved first, and that he discussed with Hugh the potential overshadowing his presence could cause and said sorry but no; in fact, this has been reported in the DM today. The disgusting BM can try to own and spin this story as much as possible but, what with Eden’s qualification of the story the other day, I believe Hugh has put pressure on the DM in particular to tone it down and stop using it as fodder for the anti M&H blast that’s going on at the moment. Hugh has clout.
THANK YOU! My thoughts exactly. We never know what has been said behind the scenes.
That’s basically what the new page six story said- the Duke of Sussex got a save the date card- and let the groom know that it would be awkward for he and the Duchess to attend – b/c william is a 40something constantly throwing a toddler tantrum.
And the fact that the page six story is out- and now we can just side eye the british royal pr machine – poorly disguised as “journalists”.
Sure Jan.
Exactly, Seraphina and ariel. Families, such as Hugh’s, have a great deal of established and connected power, which can be used through channels available only to them. I think particularly of the controversial Tatler article a few years ago; the publication remained largely robust against the changes Kate demanded; concessions were made but not overly. The BRF is not as all powerful it likes to think, and neither are its press attack dogs.
It is trashy and tacky to give out information about your wedding invite list in this way. These are personal decisions everyone is entitled to make for themselves but sharing with the general public is just one more sign of the British aristocracy’s utter failure to even do aristocracy right.
I think hugh wont mind William and these people are related to eachother through diana. I think hugh might be pissed because his slumlord ways towards poor people might come up. Now william put him map and many from internet dug his past and his family colonial crime.
Exactly @Meena. Until William’s need for one one-upmanship over his brother this was just another high society wedding with lots of nice dresses and hats. Now, because of William’s toxicity people are reminded of what the Duke of Westminster tried to do to people who have very little. In all honesty I’d forgotten all about it until reminded on X (formerly known as Twitter.) The fact that H&M were invited and politely declined should have been enough. The Duke of Westminster obviously understood and was probably a little disappointed but, accepted Harry’s decision. It’s William who has an overarching need to go scorched earth every time his brother is mentioned and it’s dangerous to any one who comes into his orbit.
What is it about this family and weddings? Charles and Camilla throwing hissy fits over seating arrangements. Kate having a complete meltdown over a pair of tights. William and Kate throwing tantrums over placement cards and now William going off the charts bonkers about a wedding invitation. Talk about first world problems!
Camilla is an evil villain who used the press to terrorize diana and Harry. That said, the hierarchy and protocols around seating are some real snobby bullshit.
Grosvenor may be rich but William is the heir to throne so he would show deference to William and agree to disinvite Harry, if he was even invited.
Page Six already had a report that Harry and Meghan received a save-the-date and Harry called Hugh to explain why he had to decline. This is a nonstory that the BM is making a thing because of William’s constant need to throw temper tantrums.
British aristocrats will always bend their knee to the Crown. It’s beaten into their heads from birth. They may privately think Willy is a giant jerk, but he is still the future king, so he will be appeased.
I can’t believe the British media is really trying to make this into a major story. The reality is that the Royal family is not going to have another significant event that anyone outside of their immediate circle cares about until Charles kicks the bucket, William gets crowned or George gets married (assuming the monarchy even lasts that long). All of those events are probably far off so I guess the plan is to pass the time with breathless speculation about whether Harry and Meghan will be invited to every cotillion, yacht christening and Twinkie eating contest that occurs between now and then? So ridiculous…
Whoremilla was furious at the seating arrangements and called the bride’s mother a cow for not seating her with Charles. To alleviate the situation Charles claimed he had a previous speaking engagement and didn’t attend. Needless to say, Camilla didn’t attend. Hugh has a famous Russian writer Alexander Pushkin, who was of African descent, as one of his relatives. So, l am quite sure H and M were invited and turned the invitation down. The British media knows all this because it made the papers.
The bride’s mother was Diana’s bf was she not? I wouldn’t go because of that but Horsilla is too important to care? Even in those days.
So, I think the difference between the wedding of Tamara Grosvenor and the other royal events was that those were royal events – the jubilee, QM’s funeral, etc. Tamara’s wedding was a society event and Camilla probably expected that the rules would be looser there.
But the Queen dictated where she (Camilla) would have to sit at someone else’s wedding and the Duke and Duchess of Westminster agreed with that – they could have said no, we’re going to put her where Charles wants. But the Queen outranked Charles obviously so she got her way. (also possible the DoW didn’t want her there anyway.)
so it makes sense to me that the new DoW would again agree with the future king (or even Charles since I’m sure he’s invited) about his guest list, IF we go along with this story.
but if we go by Page 6, then Harry has already said ‘thanks but no thanks” so there’s no story here.
So the reason Charles and Camilla couldn’t sit together was because the Queen and Prince Philip were attending. The seating was dictated by BP. I’m still wondering how this story got out in the first place. The press could do months of will the Sussexes come or not- if the Waleses, the Grosvenors, and the Sussexes all ignored it, the tabs could just churn out stories and get their clicks, but soon everyone would realize they have nothing. It’s a private wedding. The invitation list is private. Remember the story not only gleefully stated that the Sussexes were being snubbed, but that like George would get to be in the wedding party because he is a godson, but Archie, apparently also a godson, won’t. They are talking about snubbing a four year old. They should at least keep the children out of their mouths. It’s disgusting. I don’t know how that writer can write such puerile and petty nonsense and still consider herself a professional. It must really be annoying for the Grosvenors to have their wedding hi-jacked. Now instead of getting the usual society wedding coverage, they will become part of the Windsor soap opera. But as has already been discussed, this isn’t their first rodeo with the Windsors and their messiness.
I don’t want to threadjack but Hugh being a very important aristo billionaire in UK society is why this story has already been killed. Lol Kaiser has a post about it. William is so crass and unlikable and I’m at the point where I wonder if actually has friends or if he’s just as isolated as Kate. Who would hang out with someone who uses your life events to attack his little brother or possibly leaks your business to the press to protect himself??
I can totally believe that Peg is throwing tantrums and making people “choose”.
Also, Harry is cognizant that showing up for something like this would *cause* a tantrum and retaliation in any case.
Hugh if you have any kind of brain and regards for your fiancé’s feelings, just ignore this sht. You know it’s coming from willy whanger, you know that out of the two brothers, Harry is the only gentleman and the only one who would put your wedding FIRST. Let the pathetic little pouter think he has won, then on the day, BLANK THE FKR. and make sure Rose is given a very prominent seat right near keen, so people can see what spite and meanness can do to a woman’s features, especially when she is near enough to be compared to an English “Rose”. And your beautiful bride can more than hold her own against keen as well, just don’t let the heir get to close to her
Mary Pester, “make sure Rose is given a very prominent seat right near keen, so people can see what spite and meanness can do to a woman’s features, especially when she is near enough to be compared to an English “Rose”.”
what a great visual!
All I want to know about this wedding is which of the beautiful family tiara’s the bride is going to wear. I’m a sucker for a good tiara
Does Harry and Meghan even care about the invite??
How can one snub the 6th in line of the throne; would he care??
Any intentions to hold a wedding without drama overshadowing the bride’s special day is now gone.
And this coverage, or shall we say “snub,” bears the POW’s imprint because it’s short sighted and self serving, and ultimately another misstep in his campaign to be the better brother.
In a previous article, it stated the Wont will be doing something for the wedding (an usher?) Now, I wonder if Hugh was aware of that until he got his marching orders.
How did W end up being longtime best friends with someone a decade his junior? At what point in their lives did this happen? When Hugh was ten and W was 20? Even at twenty and thirty that’s odd.