Except for the Sussexes, it seemed that everyone attended the former President’s 60th birthday celebration. There are several suppositions as to why Meghan Markle and Prince Harry did not attend Barack Obama’s birthday party.
Barack Obama hosted a massive birthday bash at his Martha’s Vineyard house over the August 6 weekend, with guests including John Legend, Gayle King, Jay-Z, and Beyoncé. According to reports, anywhere between 200 to 400 people attended the event (and according to a staff member who spoke to The Daily Mail, that’s allegedly after cutting down on the guestlist).
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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, on the other hand, were not among the Obamas’ illustrious guests. According to one royal expert, Meghan and Harry’s absence could be due to the fact that they were never on the invite list, to begin with.
“Despite the Obamas not attending the Sussexes’ wedding that year, it was thought that the newly California-based couple would be shoo-ins at Obama’s 60th, as prominent ‘progressives’ and new-found members of the US metropolitan liberal elite,” royal reporter Camilla Tominey shared with The Daily Mail. According to Tominey, the Sussexes may have “jeopardized their once special relationship” as friends after sources suggest the royal couple made attempts to “ape everything the Obamas have done” following their royal exit in 2020.
While it’s unclear exactly what the Sussexes are copying, Tominey believes that this isn’t the only possible reason they weren’t invited. A source claimed that the Obamas “didn’t like Harry attacking his family” during his and Meghan’s interview with Oprah in March.
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The insider said, “They value family and certainly aren’t the type of people who would want their children talking to the press.”
Following Meghan and Harry’s tell-all, Michelle Obama did remark on the royal family feud, telling Access Hollywood that she hoped the Sussexes and the royal family could find “forgiveness” at some point.
“My hope is that, when I think about what they’re going through, I think about the importance of family and I just pray that there is forgiveness and there is clarity and love and resolve at some point in time,” she said. “Because there’s nothing more important than family.”
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According to the source, there’s also the possibility that Meghan and Harry just couldn’t attend the event in the first place, which has nothing to do with being snubbed. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were “not planning to attend” Obama’s party, according to Page Six, given the fact that the former President and Meghan share a birthday on August 4.
The New York Post’s outlet told at the time that Harry had already made separate preparations to celebrate his wife’s 40th birthday, which makes the most practical—and least shady—a sense of all – according to the source.