Prince Harry and Meghan Markle did not make the trip across the pond to celebrate King Charles III’s first Trooping the Colour parade.
Charles, 74, marked his inaugural birthday procession on Saturday, June 17, with wife Queen Camilla, eldest son Prince William and siblings Princess Anne and Prince Edward. The king arrived to the occasion on horseback alongside the Prince of Wales, 40, and Anne, 72. The trio then joined the rest of the senior working royals — including William and Princess Kate’s three children — on the Buckingham Palace balcony to check out the military flypast.
The balcony appearance, however, did not include Harry, 38, or Meghan, 41, who are no longer senior working royals since their 2020 step-down.
On Tuesday, June 13, royal expert Gareth Russell predicted that the couple would not attend the celebration because tsince they resigned from their regal duties. (The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced in January 2020 that they planned to step back from their senior royal positions and moved to the United States the following July.)
“I don’t think they need to be invited,” the Do Let’s Have Another Drink! author exclusively told Us Weekly earlier this month. “Not as a kind of insult to them, but you know, it’s a long trip to make from California for the sake of Trooping the Colour. … I think this is one of the events where the Sussexes were never going to be invited.”
Despite the change in their royal status, Harry and Meghan attended Queen Elizabeth II’s last Trooping the Colour in June 2022, which took place during the late monarch’s Platinum Jubilee. (The queen died in September 2022 at age 96 after 70 years on the throne.)
The Archewell cofounders watched the Horse Guards Parade from the Major General’s Office, an area that overlooks the parade grounds with their two children: Prince Archie, 4, and Princess Lilibet, 2. The family of four were unable to watch the parade alongside other members of the royal family since Queen Elizabeth announced only those “undertaking official public duties” on behalf of Her Majesty would be permitted to participate in the balcony appearance.
Since their exit, the twosome have only returned to the U.K. on a handful of occasions including the Spare author’s grandmother’s funeral. Harry, for his part, traveled solo to attend his father’s historic coronation in April and to testify in his ongoing phone hacking trial against Mirror Group Newspapers which began a few weeks later. Despite the former military pilot being in his home country frequently, the trips have been short and allegedly have not included a visit with his father, nor his brother William.
Harry’s relationship with his family became strained after he released his 2023 memoir, Spare. In the tell-all, the Invictus Games founder detailed several arguments with William and His Majesty. In one instance, Harry claimed that William initiated a physical fight after he supposedly called Meghan “difficult” and “rude.”
While Harry spoke out about his family feud, the BetterUp CIO has been vocal about his desire to reconcile with his family but told Anderson Cooper during a January 60 Minutes interview that the “ball is very much in their court.”
