Welcome to The Scoop — the ultimate back-to-the-office water cooler cheat sheet, your go-to source for all things everyone really wants to know! Get the latest on everything from the political swamp maneuvering in D.C. to Hollywood drama to jaw-dropping small-town shenanigans from Paula Froelich. Subscribe to her newsletter here.
(NewsNation) — When Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, announced she had cancer last week, the world was shocked, and so were Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
The two had been kept in the dark about Middleton’s diagnosis and, a day later publicly said in a statement to news agencies: “We wish health and healing for Kate and the family, and hope they are able to do so privately and in peace.”
Privately, I am told, they reached out to Kensington Palace and asked if they could come see her — a request that was quickly denied.
“Absolutely not — no way would Kate or William allow them a private audience,” my source said. “They haven’t spoken to them (since Harry’s tell-all memoir “Spare” — in which he talked about both Kate and William — came out early last year) and don’t want to. It would be a PR opportunity and they’d likely blab everything to Gayle King a day later.”
And why would the Prince and Princess of Wales want to see Harry or Meghan? According to US Weekly, Harry and Meghan didn’t reach out to Kate after her abdominal surgery and have spent the last year bashing them.
Omid Scobie, believed to be Harry and Meghan’s mouthpiece, wrote in a draft of his book “Endgame” that came out last year that he believed Kate was one of the racially insensitive royals who asked about their son’s skin color (the names were revealed in a Dutch edition of the book).
Markle claimed Middleton made her cry and was cold during several TV interviews, and Harry — who used to be so close with Middleton he claimed she was the sister he’d never had — has backed up Markle and then claimed William married Kate because she “fit the mold.”
With relatives like that, who needs enemies? William and Kate are said to have washed their hands of Harry and Meghan and are “not interested in any drama” that a visit might bring.
FILE – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, at centre left, and from left, Prince Charles, Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Andrew, Meghan the Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Prince William and Kate the Duchess of Cambridge, as they watch a flypast of Royal Air Force aircraft pass over Buckingham Palace in London, July 10, 2018. Britain’s monarchy is bracing for more bombshells to be lobbed over the palace gates Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022 as Netflix releases the first three episodes of a series that promises to tell the “full truth” about Prince Harry and Meghan’s estrangement from the royal family. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, file) 
FILE – Britain’s Prince William and Britain’s Prince Harry walk beside each other after viewing the floral tributes for the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England on Sept. 10, 2022. Prince Harry flew more than 5,000 miles to see his father after King Charles III was diagnosed with cancer. But he did not see his estranged brother, William, during a visit that lasted scarcely 24 hours. William, meanwhile, returned to public duties for the first time since his wife, Kate, was admitted to a London hospital Jan. 16 for abdominal surgery. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File) 
FILE – Britain’s Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge visits the Urban Nature Project at the Natural History Museum, in London, June 22, 2021. The Duchess of Cambridge, who turns 40 on Sunday Jan. 9, 2022, has emerged as Britain’s reliable royal. After Prince Harry and Meghan’s stormy departure to California in 2020, the death of Prince Philip last year, and now sex abuse allegations against Prince Andrew, the former Kate Middleton remains in the public eye as the smiling mother of three who can comfort grieving parents at a children’s hospice or wow the nation by playing piano during a televised Christmas concert. (Geoff Pugh/Pool Photo via AP, File) 
From left, Kate, the Princess of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales, Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex walk to meet members of the public at Windsor Castle, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, in Windsor, England, Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. (Kirsty O’Connor/Pool Photo via AP) 
Britain’s Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales, left, and Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex walk to greet the crowds after viewing the floral tributes for the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England, Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali) 
Britain’s Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales, left, and Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex walk to greet the crowds after viewing the floral tributes for the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England, Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)