King Charles III coronation is quickly approaching and there’s more speculation than ever about what will go down during the regal ceremony now that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have finally received their invitation. According to new leaked plans, it’s not clear if the Sussexes will attend — or be included in the procession.
If the Duke and Duchess do attend, it’s also unclear if they would bring their children along and if Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet (who recently received their official royal titles) would have any role in the coronation events. The coronation is taking place on a special date for the family — it’s also Prince Archie’s 4th birthday on May 6.
A spokesperson for the couple told The Sunday Times, “I can confirm The Duke has received email correspondence from His Majesty’s office regarding the coronation. An immediate decision on whether The Duke and Duchess will attend will not be disclosed by us at this time.”
Last year, the couple traveled back to the U.K. to introduce their daughter Lilibet to her great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II and her grandfather Charles during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee festivities. They capped off the celebrations with an intimate first birthday party for the Princess in the backyard of Frogmore Cottage.
Adding to the tension between the royal family, last month news broke that King Charles asked Harry and Meghan to leave their home in the U.K, Frogmore Cottage. A spokesperson for the couple’s Archewell Foundation corroborated the news with People, stating, “We can confirm The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been requested to vacate their residence at Frogmore Cottage.”
According to the Sun, King Charles is evicting Prince Harry and Meghan. The outlet claims King Charles plans to downgrade his younger brother Prince Andrew (who was ousted from his Buckingham Palace apartment, and lives in a Windsor mansion) to the much-smaller Frogmore Cottage. Andrew officially stepped back from public royal duties and was stripped of his HRH title after sexual abuse allegations came to light, as well as his ties with disgraced financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The royal settled a civil sexual assault lawsuit with Virginia Giuffre in February of 2022.
Harry held the lease on the cottage. The royal residence was gifted to the couple by Queen Elizabeth II as a wedding present. After renovating the cottage, the pair relocated to Markle’s native California in 2020 when they took a step back as working members of the royal family.
Despite their Montecito address, the couple continued to retain Frogmore as their U.K. residence, reportedly signing a 12-month lease renewal last April. Vacating the property will leave Harry and Meghan without an official royal residence, and many are left wondering what this will mean if the couple decides to attend the coronation. Many have speculated that King Charles would offer temporary accommodations if that were to be the case.
Since the release of Prince Harry’s bombshell tell-all memoir Spare in January, and the release of the couple’s Netflix documentary Harry + Meghan, tensions within the royal family have hit an all-time high, and there has reportedly been no advancement in mending fences.
According to the People, King Charles is anxious for the situation to “calm down” before his ascension to the throne. A source close to the royals said, “It is such a momentous occasion for Charles, and he would want his son to be at the coronation to witness it. He would like to have Harry back in the family. If they don’t sort it out, it will always be part of the King’s reign and how he has left his family disjointed. He has had a reputation as a distant parent, and it would be awful for him for that to continue.”
During the promotional tour for his book, Prince Harry sat down with ITV News’ Tom Bradby for the feature, Harry: The Interview. The Duke explained, “It never needed to be this way.”
“I want a family. Not an institution,” said Prince Harry. “They feel as though it’s better to keep us, somehow, as the villains,” referring to the royal family. He added, “They’ve shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile.”
The Duke spoke about his relationship with his father, King Charles III, and his brother, William, the Prince of Wales. “I would like to get my father back,” Prince Harry said. “I would like to have my brother back.”
Watch this space ahead of King Charles III’s official coronation on May 6.
