Meghan Markle and Husband Are ‘Being Left Out of Any Details’ About Kate Middleton, Source Says (Exclusive)

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are in the dark about Kate Middleton’s abdominal surgery and recovery.

“They are aware of everything that goes on back in England, but are being left out of any details regarding Kate,” a family source tells PEOPLE. “There is clearly no trust.”

Despite Prince Harry, 39, traveling from California to the U.K. last month following the announcement of King Charles’ cancer diagnosis, his brief visit to his home country did not involve meeting with his brother, Prince William, 41, or sister-in-law, Princess Kate, 42. A royal source said at the time there were “no plans” for the brothers to get together.

A former courtier suggested that the Prince of Wales’ “principal concern is his wife” in the weeks following the surgery that kept her in the hospital for nearly two weeks, but trust continues to be a concern following the release of Harry’s revealing memoir, Spare, and the Netflix docuseries with Meghan, 42.

“It would be the normal run of things to go and see your sister-in-law who’s had a serious operation and also see your niece and nephews. But it isn’t normal. It’s terribly sad,” a source close to the royal household told PEOPLE.

In another sign of the ongoing family rift, Queen Camilla made a deliberate effort to be in the room during Prince Harry and King Charles’ 30-minute reunion on Feb. 6.

“This is all to do with William’s wish to protect the institution of the monarchy, which he feels Harry can’t be trusted with. I don’t think William will ever agree to readmission of Harry into the family unless he clearly apologizes and moves forward,” royal author Robert Lacey told PEOPLE.

Prince Harry spoke with Good Morning America’s Will Reeve last month about the trip to the U.K. to see his father.

“Look, I love my family. The fact that I was able to get on a plane and go and see him and spend any time with him, I’m grateful for that,” Harry said in the on-camera interview.

As for whether King Charles’ cancer diagnosis could have a “reunifying effect” on the royal family, Harry, who was in Canada connecting with Invictus Games competitors and their loved ones, said: “Absolutely. Yeah, I’m sure. Throughout all these families, I see it on a day-to-day basis, the strength of the family unit coming together.”

The Duke of Sussex added, “I have my own family, as we all do. My family and my life in California is as it is. I’ve got other trips planned that would take me through the U.K. or back to the U.K., so I’ll stop in and see my family as much as I can.”

With King Charles and Princess Kate’s health scares keeping them away from public duties, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry would be major figures in the royal family if they hadn’t stepped back from their roles in 2020 and relocated to California.

“This is a slimmed-down monarchy in the ways the King could never have anticipated. This puts into much sharper focus what a terrible mistake it was for Harry to leave,” royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith told PEOPLE. “If he and Meghan had stayed in Britain and stuck with their jobs, they could be very vital players right now.”

Added Catherine Mayer, the author of Charles: The Heart of a King, “They desperately need him, and nobody could have foreseen the set of circumstances that would expose that so dramatically.”

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