It's a big weekend for baby Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor: The mini royal is going follow tradition and be christened on Saturday, July 6, at Queen Elizabeth's private chapel in Windsor Castle. We don't know a lot about the ceremony itself, however: Archie's parents, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, reportedly want to keep the day private and reserved for an intimate group of friends and family. They're even going so far as to keep cameras totally away from the event—minus one royal photographer—instead of allowing them to photograph arrivals and departures, a decision that's causing some controversy. And while the total number of invitees will reportedly be around 25 and include truly the nearest and dearest to little family, there's one very important figure who will be missing from the day's events: Archie's great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
Of course, the queen has a very valid excuse to be missing Archie's milestone day: The royal calendars got crossed. According to The Daily Mail, the queen had booked this weekend long ago so she could escape to Sandringham for a getaway with her husband, Prince Philip (which is kind of adorable). The paper reports that Meghan and Harry made plans for a Friday, July 5, christening with Markle's mom, Doria Ragland, and the mystery godparents before discovering that Harry's dad, Prince Charles, already had plans (he was commemorating a half-century of being Prince of Wales in, well, Wales). So, they pushed it to Saturday, July 6, so Charles could come before finding out that the queen and Prince Philip had had their visit in the diary for awhile. According to the Mail, the queen decided to "bow out graciously."
This isn't the first time the queen has skipped a royal baby life event—she had to miss Prince Louis's baptism last year as well as a few other christenings. However, according to the Mail, "it is understood that she would have liked to be present for the first big celebration for Harry’s first child."
Although it doesn't sound as if we'll be seeing the queen in whatever adorable family photos are released from the big day, at least we can take comfort in the fact that even royals, with all their assistants, have trouble getting everyone in the family in the same place at the same time.
