Prince Edward was forcefully pulled out from Queen Elizabeth II's NATO reception at Buckingham Palace at the last minute due to illness. The Earl of Wessex was due to attend the event with other members of the royal family, but unfortunately, he didn't make it.
The youngest son of Her Majesty and Prince Philip was supposed to join his siblings, Prince Charles and Princess Anne, and Kate Middleton to welcome the NATO leaders. However, he had to cancel his appearance due to an unforeseen circumstance.
"Unfortunately, The Earl of Wessex was unable to attend last night's reception as he was unwell," a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said. "There's no further guidance on this."
However, the 55-year-old prince wasn't the only one who didn't make it at the event. His wife, Sophie, also missed the banquet due to prior work commitments.
Prince William, additionally, was in a four-day royal tour in the Middle East to visit the Gulf States of Kuwait and Oman. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were on a six-week vacation break, while Prince Andrew recently stepped down from his royal duties after his disastrous BBC Newsnight interview.
According to Hello Magazine, Prince Edward's last official royal duty was a dinner for his father's International Award Foundation on Nov. 28. Since then, he wasn't seen attending any official royal events. He was last seen with his daughter, Lady Louise Windsor, over the weekend, enjoying a horse riding together in Windsor.
Anyhow, Prince Charles and Princess Anne helped their mother to welcome the world leaders, along with several representatives of other nations, before the official NATO summit began, per Express. Camilla Parker-Bowles was at the event, too, to meet the President of the United States Donald Trump ahead of the reception at the Buckingham Palace with her husband.
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall had a 15-minute tea and photograph session with Donald Trump and his wife, Melania Trump. This seemed to be a sign that the heir to the throne was taking on more of Queen Elizabeth's duties. However, like the POTUS's 2018 visit at the Buckingham Palace, where the Queen had to wait for him for an hour, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles were also left waiting for Trump, who arrived at 6:05 p.m. when he was supposed to be there at 5:10 p.m.
Other world leaders who attended the event were Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Emmanuel Macron. Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau was also there.
