Prince Charles' Highgrove Gardens online site used to sell cute Christmas teddy bears bearing the names of "William," "Harry" and "Louis." Now, only two names are online as the "Harry" bears are not on the site anymore.
The missing item is prompting speculations about Prince Harry's exclusion. It's also raising questions whether Prince Charles deliberately took out the bear that has his second son's name.
According to reports, the Harry ornaments were withdrawn from the site because of animal cruelty concerns. Apparently, this particular limited-edition Christmas bear ornament featured Angora goat mohair. Its design and composition are quite different from the William and Louis bears.
In 2019, animal activists claimed that Angora goats are often manhandled and left with wounds after shearing, causing their inevitable death. Concerns were raised to the royal family about these animals' treatment forcing the Royal Collection Trust to chuck all products with mohair material.
Highgrove Gardens is still in the process of making an "ethical version" of the Harry bear. But the remaining William and Louis bears are still on the site because these are made from gold alpaca hair.
All the Christmas teddy bears are hand-crafted with soft materials, which makes it perfect for cuddling. Only 200 of its kind per Christmas ornament are available for sale on Prince Charles' website. The proceeds of the sale go to his charities.
Meanwhile, sources from Prince Harry's camp said that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not spend the holidays with the royal family for a second year in a row. Harry and Meghan plan to stay put in Los Angeles for Christmas to comply with the travel restrictions amid the pandemic.
According to Vanity Fair royal correspondent, Katie Nicholl, the Sussexes are very much looking forward to spending their very first Christmas in their new house in California. The report comes amid rumors that Harry and Meghan are coming back to London with Archie sometime in November or December.
Nicholl said that Queen Elizabeth will likely be disappointed that she won't be seeing Harry, Meghan and Archie for the holidays. Originally, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex planned on spending half their time in the U.K. and then another half in the U.S. but this wasn't possible in this uncertain period.
Prince Harry said that would have been home a long time ago if not for COVID-19. Meanwhile, he has been in touch with Prince Charles, and even the Queen, through numerous virtual calls. Another source said the Sussexes have been closer to the royal family despite living miles across the pond in the last seven months because of these video calls.
