The Duke of Sussex attended the historic ceremony alone while wife Meghan Markle stayed at home in California – and all eyes were on Prince Harry following his very public fall-out with his family
The Duke of Sussex arrived without wife Meghan Markle, who decided to stay at home in California with Princess Lilibet and Prince Archie on his fourth birthday. Meghan reportedly wanted to “minimise the drama” and felt that attending the historic event would have been “inauthentic”. But while his family stayed Stateside, Harry made a whirlwind 28-hour trip to the UK for the ceremony in Westminster Abbey.
Harry arrived at the Abbey with Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice and their husbands, Jack Brooksbank and Edoardo Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi. After his very public criticism of the royal family, including his brother Prince William, Princess Kate and Queen Camilla, Harry certainly turned heads as he arrived for the event. On the day he was sat in the third row, some distance away from his older sibling.
Harry was not seen interacting with William nor his father Charles – but he gave one telling gesture towards the King as he passed by inside the Abbey. Robert Hardamn details the events of the day in his new book, Charles III: New King, New Court. The Inside Story, including the moment that father passed by his youngest son.
He writes: “As the National Anthem reaches the end of the first verse, the King is alongside the royal pews where the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Edinburgh, both in the front row, plunge into floor-scraping curtseys. “All the men bow, including the Duke of Sussex in row three. Indeed, tellingly, he drops his head for longer than most. ”
Prince Harry is now all but estranged from his family following the release of his memoir Spare. And, according to reports, he and wife Meghan Markle are potentially planning a sequel to the bombshell book. Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams has said any further tell-all book will send the couple down a “lucrative but poisonous path”. Speaking to the Express, he said: “The publication of Harry’s memoir Spare began a dreadful year for the Sussexes which saw them lose Spotify and their popularity plummeted in the ratings in the US. They were mocked and Harry’s revelations in Spare were often unwise and were also laughed at.
“Harry revealed he had cut four hundred pages from it, because they were so sensitive and, in theory anyway, these could form the basis of another book. He could also write about his childhood and Meghan could write a memoir. However this would undoubtedly advertise to the world that the only way they could make a living was by continuing to trash the Royal Family.”
