Khan invited to Sussexes’ home during visit to California
THE Mayor of London was invited to visit the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at their California home after he met senior executives during a US trip.
The offer was reportedly made after the Sussexes declined an invitation to a VIP party that Sadiq Khan hosted in Los Angeles last week.
However, Mr Khan did not make the 90-minute trip to the couple’s Santa Barbara home because of “logistical” issues, the Evening Standard reported.
The Mayor hosted a party at Holloway House, part of the Soho House empire, in West Hollywood last Tuesday. Celebrities including James Corden and Richard Curtis mixed with British expats working in the film industry.
The event was preceded by a “power roundtable” between Mr Khan and executives from Apple, Netflix, Universal, Disney, Paramount, Sony, 20th Century, HBO and Warner Bros.
The Sussexes sent three employees in their absence, including James Holt, chief executive of their Archewell Foundation and Nick Clegg’s former communications chief.
It was claimed Mr Khan would not want to be drawn into the Royal family’s “civil war”, especially days before he was to meet the Duke of Cambridge at the FA Cup Final last Saturday and the Queen at the opening of Crossrail’s Elizabeth Line on Tuesday.
He has long played an even hand in the royal rift. After the Sussexes’ interview with Oprah Winfrey in March last year, he said he had “complete empathy” with Prince Harry’s concerns over his family’s security and praised the Duchess’s visit to Grenfell Tower, saying she had “touched people’s lives in a way nobody had”.
Mr Khan told LBC at the time: “We have got to be a bit careful about assuming that because you think Her Majesty is wonderful and you think Charles and William are wonderful, you can’t think that Harry and Meghan are wonderful.”
The Mayor and the Duchess share the dubious honour of having received public criticism from Donald Trump.
In 2015, Mr Khan discussed Mr Trump’s presidential election campaign, saying he hoped he “loses badly”. In 2018, Mr Trump said the Mayor had done a “very bad job on terrorism” and a “bad job on crime”. Mr Trump has also said he is “not a fan” of the Duchess, recently saying she was leading Prince Harry “by the nose”.