Speculation Meghan Markle is skipping the coronation over a 2-year-old letter exchange with King Charles is 'frankly ridiculous,' representative says
- On Friday, a report surfaced about a letter exchange between King Charles and Meghan Markle.
- A source told The Telegraph the letters played a role in Meghan's decision to skip the coronation.
Meghan Markle's representatives slammed a report in The Telegraph that claimed that she's not attending King Charles' coronation because of letters the two royals exchanged in 2021.
On Friday, The Telegraph published an article based on an anonymous source alleging that the Duchess of Sussex, 41, was still not satisfied with the response from Charles in a letter he wrote her after she and Prince Harry's 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
According to the publication's unnamed source, Charles wrote to her expressing his disappointment that the couple felt the need to discuss their claim that members of the royal family had questions and "concerns" over Prince Archie's skin color before his birth.
But fast-forward two years, Meghan is making it clear that the reported communication with her father-in-law from 2021 was not part of the decision to attend his coronation, set to take place on May 6.
Royal author Omid Scobie shared a statement he said was provided by the Duchess of Sussexes team on Twitter on Saturday that pushed back at the claim in the article. The tweet has nearly 8,000 likes and has been shared over 1,500 times as of Sunday.
"The Duchess of Sussex is going about her life in the present, not thinking about correspondence from two years ago related to conversations from four years ago," it read. "Any suggestion otherwise is false and frankly ridiculous."
"We encourage tabloid media and various royal correspondents to stop the exhausting circus they alone are creating," it concluded.
Representatives for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The statement comes just a week after Buckingham Palace confirmed that Harry would attend his father's coronation while Meghan remains in the US with their two children. The palace said it was "pleased to confirm that The Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on 6th May," in a statement sent to Insider.
"The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet," it added.
King Charles' coronation falls on the same day as Archie's 4th birthday. According to Scobie, that "played a factor in the couple's decision" for Meghan to stay behind with him and 1-year-old Lilibet.
Royal watcher Kristen Meinzer previously told Insider Meghan and Harry's decision to split royal and familial duties was a "brilliant" strategy.
"The decision for Harry to go, and for Meghan to stay home with the children on Archie's birthday is a brilliant way to split the difference," Meinzer said. "As I've said in the past, the primary benefit of attending is the optics; of looking as though they're continuing to do their best on their end — even if the royal family isn't always doing their best on their end."