‘It’s incredibly sad it has come to this,’ an insider told the newspaper. ‘Hugh is one of very few close friends of William and Harry’s who has maintained strong bonds and a line of communication with both.
‘He wishes they could put their heads together and patch things up, but realises it’s unlikely to happen before the wedding. He wanted to avoid anything overshadowing the day, especially for Olivia, and doesn’t want any awkwardness.’
A difficult decision: The Duke of Westminster is a close childhood friend of both Prince William and Prince Harry, but as the feud between the Duke of Sussex and the royal family continues, will Hugh Grosvenor be forced to choose between the brothers?
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Could the same be true for the christening? Could Hugh and Olivia decline to offer Prince Harry the opportunity to serve as godfather to baby Cosima in the name of avoiding yet another tricky situation? Or, could one of the ultimate royal insiders see this as an opportunity to break the glacial tension between Prince William and Prince Harry, giving the brothers a shared role over which they might finally bond?
There are plenty of other runners and riders for the position. Royal historian Marlene A. Eilers Koenig wonders on her Royal Musings blog whether the Duke’s cousin, Cosima Poloniecki, might be on the list. It seems that Hugh and Olivia named their first daughter in her honour, after all. Born Cosima Crawley, her mother, Marita Phillips, is the sister of Hugh’s mother, Natasha, Duchess of Westminster. The sisters are daughters of one of Queen Elizabeth II’s closest friends, the late Georgina Wernher – considered one of the most well-connected women in the country. No doubt, it would be a touching nod to the Duke’s cousin to name her godmother to her namesake.