Prince Harry showed up on his own at the coronation of his father, King Charles III, and remained on the edges of the pageantry through the day.
Harry had no formal role in the coronation service at Westminster Abbey. He didn’t get a spot in a carriage for the grand procession back to Buckingham Palace. And he didn’t join other members of his family for the finale moment on the palace balcony.
This was the first known time he has seen his family since the publication of his memoir, “Spare,” and the release of his Netflix documentary, “Harry and Meghan” — both of which attacked his royal relatives and the courtiers who work for them.
Harry had played a similarly marginal role at his grandmother’s Platinum Jubilee in June, which palace officials explained then by noting that he was no longer a “senior working royal,” having given up those responsibilities in January 2020.
But since then family relations appear to have deteriorated further. And it is now his father, not his grandmother, who is making the ultimate calls on how royal events are choreographed.
On Saturday, Harry entered the abbey smiling and laughing with his cousin, Princess Eugenie, and her husband, Jack Brooksbank. Harry’s own wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, stayed behind in California, palace officials said.
Harry sat in the third row of the pews reserved for the royal family. British papers suggested that was a demotion — a row farther back from where he sat for the September funeral of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. At times, his view seemed to be obscured by the red plume on the hat of his aunt, Princess Anne, in front of him.
Also in the third row: Harry’s uncle Prince Andrew, still in the royal wilderness after Queen Elizabeth took away his titles and patronages when he was being sued by a woman who said she was forced into sexual encounters with him. (Elizabeth is widely believed to have quietly contributed to his legal settlement of that case.)
During the service, Harry could be seen mouthing “God save King Charles” during an homage to the king. But it was his older brother, William, the heir, who stood in for the blood relatives, kneeling at his father’s feet and swearing his loyalty to him, “as your liege man of life and limb.”
Harry, who served two tours in Afghanistan, has been denied a military uniform at royal events and on Saturday wore medals pinned to the jacket of his morning suit.
Whether he might join his father and Queen Camilla on the Buckingham Palace balcony had been a question going into the day. Palace officials were rather coy about it. In the end, the balcony gathering was larger than for the jubilee, but Harry was not among the family members waving to the crowds.
He was expected to return to the United States shortly after the coronation. The tabloids reported that his car was seen heading in the direction of Heathrow airport. Saturday was also the fourth birthday of his son, Prince Archie.
Court cases against British tabloids, though, could bring Harry back to London again soon.
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2023-05-06 18:27:00Z
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