Kensington Palace has been on a briefing frenzy over the past 48 hours. My guess is that Buckingham Palace and Clarence House directly ordered the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to not create any drama with or about Harry and Meghan while the Sussexes were in town for the Jubbly. KP studiously avoided briefing against the Sussexes for four days, but then as soon as the Sussexes left, KP went into overdrive. First off, Page Six claims that the Sussexes did invite the Cambridge family to Frogmore Cottage for Lilibet’s birthday picnic, but the Cambridges declined because… the Sussexes leak. KP is literally leaking these stories.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle invited Prince William, Kate Middleton and their children to Lilibet’s first birthday party as an olive branch — but the family did not attend, Page Six is told. Amid the brothers’ ongoing fractious relationship, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex asked the Cambridges to join them at their UK home, Frogmore Cottage, in Windsor, on Saturday.

But the Cambridges and two of their three children, Prince George, 8, and Princess Charlotte, 7, were in Wales for the day taking part in Platinum Jubilee celebrations. And as Page Six previously reported would happen, the Sussexes left without spending any solo time with William, Kate and the mini Cambridges — and their kids, Archie, 3, and Lili, didn’t get to see their cousins.

One UK-based royal insider said: “Things are still fraught — William is still wary of spending any time alone with Harry as you never quite know what may be reported back afterwards.”

[From Page Six]

Again, William and Kate’s office has been on a briefing frenzy and they’ve been claiming to multiple outlets that THEY are very worried about what might come out of the Sussexes’ communications office. To underline that point, the Telegraph had this curious passage in an article which was supposed to be about how big, fancy and important the Cambridges are:

While the Cambridges were prominent throughout the weekend, the public did not see much of Harry and Meghan – and nothing of their children. The couple kept a low profile at Trooping and were relegated to the second row during Friday’s service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, when they were seated across the aisle from William and Kate.

A royal source confirmed that the Cambridges and the Sussexes had “no interaction” during the busy weekend, suggesting that relations between the couples remain strained.

“A line was crossed with the Oprah Winfrey interview and it’s hard to come back from that – not least when there has still been no acknowledgement of the motivations behind it and the hurt it caused. Someone needs to be steely in this,” said the insider.

Reports that second cousins including Peter Phillips’s daughters Savannah, 11, and Isla, 10, and Zara and Mike Tindall’s children Mia, eight, Lena, three, and one-year-old Lucas attended a party at Frogmore House for Lilibet’s first birthday on Saturday appear wide of the mark.

Royal aides are now bracing themselves for images to emerge of Lilibet being introduced to her great-grandmother and namesake after the Sussexes visited the Queen at Windsor Castle following Trooping the Colour. They were also spotted driving out of Clarence House, the London home of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, before the thanksgiving service, suggesting that they spent some private time with Charles and Camilla during their whistle-stop return to Britain.

[From The Telegraph]

“Someone needs to be steely in this…” Wow, that is a fascinating quote. It suggests that the Queen and Charles are NOT “steely” about the Sussexes. Almost as if Charles and the Queen have quietly acknowledged that they f–ked up and they’re trying to diplomatically make some kind of peace with the Sussexes, all while Steely Baldemort is incandescent with rage about… the Oprah interview. “A line was crossed with the Oprah Winfrey interview and it’s hard to come back from that – not least when there has still been no acknowledgement of the motivations behind it and the hurt it caused.” Harry and Meghan were describing THEIR hurt, their pain, how Meghan was suicidal because of the smear campaign William and Kate ran against her.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar.