Queen Elizabeth II personally invited the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to come to her Jubilee celebrations last year. She invited them in person, when Harry and Meghan made a surprise visit to Windsor ahead of the Invictus Games in The Hague. Once the Sussex family was on the ground in the UK for the Jubbly, there was wall-to-wall speculation about what they were doing and who they were seeing. Some incandescent palace sources assured the Mail that Harry and Meghan were absolutely banned from bringing a photographer with them as Harry introduced his children to his grandmother. That was the back-and-forth at the time – the courtiers wanted credit for “banning” this or that during the Sussexes’ visit to QEII. Months later, Harry revealed that visit was the last time he saw his grandmother in person, although they were still talking on the phone throughout the summer. Well, fifteen months later, we’re still talking about that Jubbly visit and people are still lying about what did or did not happen.

A former employee of Queen Elizabeth II claimed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle snubbed the late monarch’s invitation to celebrate Princess Lilibet’s 1st birthday with her.

“Even on Lilibet’s 1st birthday, the Queen didn’t see her,” the Queen’s onetime footman Paul Burrell told the Mirror in an interview published Friday. “She saw her the day before. But on her birthday, the Queen had a birthday cake made with one candle in it. And they never turned up. That candle was never lit.”

However, a source tells Page Six there is “no truth” to Burrell’s claims.

“They did see the Queen to celebrate Lili’s birthday,” the insider says.

According to Burrell, the sovereign had invited Harry and Markle to celebrate Lilibet’s birthday but was snubbed. “The next day, she asked if maybe they’d like to come up for tea again and was told they’ve gone,” the ex-Buckingham Palace staffer claimed. “‘What do you mean they’ve gone?’ she said. ‘They’ve gone back to America.’ ‘Oh no, they never said goodbye.’”

Burrell further claimed the Queen was “confused” that Harry and Markle, who also share 4-year-old son Prince Archie, decided to leave London so quickly.

“How could you offend our Queen? Well, I don’t understand anyone that could do that. Not her family, why would you want to?” he said. “She was devoid of jealousy, anger, envy, all those traits that we associate with other people she didn’t have. She was just a very simple soul. I wish the world could have known her the way I knew her.”

[From Page Six]

Do you want me to do this? Because I will – Burrell is lying his ass off and I have no idea why. QEII was in really poor health during the week of the Jubbly, and she canceled her public appearance at some horse race on that Saturday, which was Lili’s birthday (June 4th). Harry and Meghan threw a small party on that day at Frogmore Cottage, where Misan Harriman took photos of Lili and the family. Then, the day after Lili’s birthday (June 5th, a Sunday), the Sussexes flew out of the UK while the final Jubbly celebrations were happening. The British media was beyond pissed that the Sussexes dipped, that they were not begging to be on the fakakta balcony, that they didn’t give a sh-t about going to the Jubbly concert or whatever. Harry brought his children to England that one last time specifically so they could meet their great-grandmother.

Photos courtesy of SussexRoyal, Misan Harriman, Netflix.