Obamas ‘didn’t like Prince Harry attacking royal family’, royal expert claims

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were said to have a good relationship with Barack and Michelle Obama – but the Sussexes did not attend the former president’s 60th birthday party at the weekend

Barack Obama celebrated his 60th birthday at the weekend with a glitzy party teeming with A-listers.

The huge bash saw the likes of Jay-Z, Beyoncé and George Clooney gather together to honour the former US president.

Missing out on the celebrations were Prince Harry and Meghan Markle – who were said to have a good relationship with Barack and wife Michelle – although it is not known exactly why they did not attend.

And according to royal expert Camilla Tominey, their absence could be down to the fact that the former president and first lady do not approve of Harry’s attacks on the royal family.

Since the pair moved to California from the UK last year, they have given a bombshell interview to Oprah Winfrey where they made claims a member of the family had expressed ‘concerns’ about the colour of son Archie’s skin before he was born.

Harry has also appeared on the Apple TV series The Me You Can’t See, where he spoke about the royals’ “total neglect” and the Armchair Expert podcast, where he lashed out at his father Prince Charles’s parenting.

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And writing in the Telegraph, Camilla said: “It arguably will not have gone down well with a couple who have always put ‘family first’ to see Harry and Meghan being so openly critical of their royal relatives during their Oprah interview in March.

“When it comes to Harry and Meghan, it seems, the former president and first lady remain firmly of the view that blood is thicker than water.”

Meanwhile an insider told Camilla: “The Obamas didn’t like Harry attacking his family. They value family and certainly aren’t the type of people who would want their children talking to the press.”

Prince Harry famously appeared in a video with the Obamas and the Queen in 2016 to promote the Invictus Games and also interviewed the former president for BBC Radio 4.

And in 2018, Meghan attended a talk that Michelle gave at London’s Southbank Centre.

After their interview with Oprah, Michelle shared her thoughts on it, saying it “highlighted the importance of family”.

She said: “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.

“Because there’s nothing more important than family.”

But Harry and Meghan aren’t the only royals that the Obamas are said to be close to.

They famously got on well with the Queen and the late Prince Philip during multiple trips to the UK when Barack was president.

And they’ve also met the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on multiple occasions, including in 2016 when they greeted a two-year-old Prince George, who was dressed in his pyjamas and dressing gown, at Kensington Palace.