Prince Harry appears to be on his way back home to California already to be with Meghan Markle, Princess Lilibet and Prince Archie on his birthday. The Duke of Sussex who sat two rows behind his brother at Westminster Abbey for his father’s Coronation departed promptly from Heathrow.
According to the BBC, he was not invited to appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the event. It’s the first time he’s been photographed with his family since his divisive memoir Spare was published.
After the service, Prince Harry, who had travelled from the United States on Friday, got into a car by himself.
The King and Queen were joined on the Buckingham Palace balcony ninety minutes later by other working members of the Royal Family, including the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children.
The Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry’s wife, remained in Los Angeles with their children, where their son Prince Archie is enjoying his fourth birthday.
At the ceremony, Prince Harry sat in the third row with his cousin Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank, as well as his uncle the Duke of York, Prince Andrew.
Prince Harry Not on Balcony with Father
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, as well as the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, sat two rows ahead at the front.
Last year, at the abbey, Prince Harry sat in the second row, directly behind the late Queen Elizabeth.
Prince Harry was always expected to attend the event alone and with no formal participation because he is not a functioning member of the Royal Family. This also applied to Prince Andrew.
He entered with Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.
Since the publication of his memoir, relations between Prince Harry and other members of the family have been strained.
The book graphically depicted family feuds and conflicts, and he has since admitted to feeling “different” from the rest of his family.
Meghan’s choice to decline the invitation was largely interpreted as part of these ongoing, unresolved familial conflicts.
Last month, it was revealed that the King attempted to prevent Prince Harry from suing newspapers for alleged phone hacking.
According to court documents, Prince Harry was “summoned to Buckingham Palace” and urged to abandon the proceedings due to the impact on the family.
Prince Harry’s Wife Stays Home
Meanwhile, The Daily Telegraph said that Meghan Markle’s wish to celebrate Archie’s fourth birthday, which falls on the day of the coronation, was one of the reasons she stayed in California.
The article also stated that she chose not to attend because she did not obtain an acceptable response to a letter she submitted to the King expressing her concern about unconscious bias in the Royal Family.
Meghan’s spokesman, however, rejected this, calling any notion that she was thinking about correspondence from two years ago “false and frankly ridiculous.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have regularly expressed their displeasure, whilst the King and Queen have “remained tight-lipped.” Archie and Lilibet, unlike their cousins, have not grown up with a close relationship with the royal family.
Harry’s memoir “Spare” was released in January of this year. He accused his stepmother of disclosing private discussions to the media in order to improve her public image.
In interviews to promote the book, Harry accused members of the royal family of “going into bed with the devil” to garner favourable tabloid coverage, singling out Camilla’s efforts to repair her image with the British people following her long-running romance with his father, now King Charles III.
