Talk TV’s royal editor Sarah Hewson said on Monday that William and Kate “aren’t ready to play happy families”.

Last week, reports suggested that Harry would call King Charles on his birthday, November 14, after weeks of no contact with the monarch.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment at first but later suggested a call did in fact take place and another phone call is scheduled for this week.

This weekend, “friends of the Sussexes” claimed to the Sunday Times that the pair want to “change the state of play” and would “readily accept” a Christmas invitation to Sandringham.

But now sources are questioning Harry and Meghan’s strategy as well as the timing.

They told the Mail: “It’s so bizarre to have behaved so badly, demanded an apology and an admission of ‘guilt’ — to no avail, I might add — from the family and now suggest they’ll just waltz back in and allow bygones to be bygones if only someone would be good enough invite them.”

The insider noted both Harry and Meghan had been invited by the late Queen Elizabeth as well as King Charles to join the family at Balmoral in the summer, but had chosen not to visit since 2018.

The insider said: “Which begs the question, why now? Is it something to do with the fact that some of their commercial deals, such as Spotify, have fallen around their ears and they have been subject to ridicule in the U.S. in shows such as South Park and Family Guy?”

“Could it be that they have realised moaning about how awful being a member of the Royal Family is, isn’t such a great strategy after all?”

Another source claimed Christmas plans are normally nailed down by now as “Sandringham isn’t a particularly big place and there’s not a lot of room for the entire extended family.”

“It would be surprising for the Sussexes not to have received an invitation by now if there was going to be one. New Year in Scotland would be more likely.”

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the latest reports.