The Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit royal life in 2020.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were seated away from senior royals at an event in 2022 (Image: Matt Dunham – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle quit royal life in 2020, choosing to leave behind their royal duties and relocate to Montecito in America instead. While The Duke and Duchess of Sussex seemed pleased with their decision, it is safe to say that members of the Royal Family did not all feel the same, with some tensions arising.

While they may have still been members of the family behind closed doors, on the royal stage, Harry, 40, and Meghan, 43, were no longer senior royals. This meant that at official events, they did not have their usual seating positions next to Prince William and Princess Kate – seats they had usually occupied.

This was the case when the couple returned to the UK in 2022 for The Service of Thanksgiving for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at St Paul’s Cathedral, with Harry and Meghan having to “face up to the new reality” that they were no longer top royals.

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This new reality was also made clear to the couple when they arrived at the event to cheers, however some boos on their departure were a sign that the public was turning against them.

The event was the first engagement Harry and Meghan had attended, alongside the Royal Family, in two years.

Rather than being sat with the most senior royals, including William and Kate, Harry and Meghan were instead sat separately across the aisle.

They were seated in the second row behind Prince Edward and Duchess Sophie, with Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, Harry’s non-working royal cousins, just seats away from them.

Harry and Meghan were sat near his cousins at the event (Image: Arthur Edwards – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

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It is believed that at the time in 2022, Harry and Meghan had told the late Queen Elizabeth II that they would keep a low profile during the Jubilee celebrations and would only take part in official engagements.

As reported by The Daily Mail, the late Queen reportedly “ordered the family to come together” with “no dramas”.

However, taking their seats a good distance away from Prince William and Princess Kate would have likely been a stark realisation for Harry and Meghan that when it comes to the top royals, they no longer make the list.

The 2022 event is one of the last visits made by Meghan to the UK, with the duchess having last been spotted in the country for the funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II later that year in September 2022.