KATE & WILLS BANNED!

There was no place for royals at Montecito a half-hearted invitation following

Despite all the bad blood between the Prince of Wales, Prince Harry and their wives, there was always an unspoken agreement never to let their kids get caught in the middle.

After all, even as relations between them began to sour in 2018, Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, attended Prince Louis’ christening, and the Waleses in kind attended their son Archie’s own baptism a year later.

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But for Princess Lilibet’s surprise christening in California last week, it appeared all the niceties between the two families had well and truly crumbled.

Harry, 38, and 41-year-old Meghan’s unofficial media spokesperson Omid Scobie pointedly declared that King Charles, Queen Consort Camilla, William and Kate had been invited to the backyard event but didn’t attend.

But those close to the Waleses say there’s more to the story than Team Sussex would have us believe, with sources insisting the event was organised strategically to ensure they couldn’t make it.

Insiders say it seems Harry and Meghan wanted it publicly known that they invited William and Kate "to make it look like they were being the bigger person in all of this", says a source.