The recent Windsor state banquet for the US President carried all the hallmarks of royal grandeur: a golden carriage procession, opulent dining beneath chandeliers, and the kind of pageantry only Britain delivers.
But across the Atlantic in California, the Sussexes felt a sting. The grand celebration honored a man who had publicly mocked, insulted, and even threatened them.
A History of Tensions
The strained relationship between the Sussexes and the US President stretches back years, long before Harry and Meghan stepped down as working royals. The state visit only rubbed salt in old wounds when, during his toast, the President singled out Prince William as Charles’s “remarkable son.”
According to Rob Shutter, writing on Substack, insiders in California saw it as an unmistakable slight. “So when Trump praised William as Charles’s ‘remarkable son’ during his state dinner toast — leaving Harry out — the Sussexes took it as a fresh slap,” he reported. One source said bluntly, “It was a dig, no question. Watching the family laugh along felt like betrayal.”
Adding to the tension, William had made time for Trump but had not met Harry just a week earlier — something the Duke reportedly perceived as another deliberate snub.
