A royal biographer has slammed Prince Harry as a "child stamping his feet" over the decision to skip a high-profile memorial of Prince Phillip in March.
Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams said it was a "great pity" that the Queen hadn't met Harry and Meghan Markle's nine-month-old daughter.
It's believed that the Queen, who is celebrating her Platinum Jubilee this year, has only met her 11th granddaughter by video link.
The UK's Daily Mail is reporting that a spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex on Friday (local time) confirmed Harry would not be leaving America to attend his grandfather's Service of Thanksgiving, which is due to be held at Westminster Abbey on March 29.
Royal biographer Angela Levin slammed Prince Harry for his decision.
She claims it's tantamount to "blackmail" and warned the Duke of Sussex could use dropping out of major events at the last minute as leverage to secure personal protective security in the UK.
Harry and Markle quit royal duties in 2020 to forge new careers in Los Angeles and have subsequently relied upon a private security team.
The Daily Mail reports that the Queen was only given 15 minutes' notice ahead of Harry's decision to skip the event.
"He has got this all wrong. If he comes over for a royal event he gets police protection," Levin said.
"What they won't do is, if he goes out with his friends he gets security. He'll probably use this same excuse to try to get out of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
"It's all about 'me, me, me' rather than going out of his way for his grandmother and showing her he cares. He's behaving like a child stamping his feet."
Harry's lawyers claim he "does not feel safe" coming to the UK with the current security arrangements after being told he would no longer have the "same degree" of personal protection when visiting from America.
But the Duke has confirmed he will travel to the Netherlands in April for the Invictus Games - a sporting event for military veterans founded by Harry in 2014.
"I think this was expected because of the issue with security, obviously, he would have wanted to come if he could. I think it's a great pity, what this means is it regrettable the rift will remain unhealed," Fitzwilliams told The Sun.
"It's increasingly unlikely. If they don't bring Lili over, then obviously that won't happen. It's all something that's clearly not going to be resolved in the foreseeable future. And it doesn't seem like they're going to come over."
