For a while royal commentators have wondered about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Trooping the Color invite, and if the couple will be making the trip across the pond to celebrate with the Royal Family.
Buckingham Palace has refused to comment on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Trooping the Color invite, which has led many commentators to speculate whether the royal couple will be in attendance at this momentous event.
As the King’s son and the fifth member of the family in the royal line of succession, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex should be invited to this event that celebrated the first official birthday for the Sovereign. They have also been in attendance at previous Trooping of the Color events when Queen Elizabeth was the monarch. However, following the Coronation, people are not so sure that they will have received an invite.
Prince Harry’s attendance at King Charles’ coronation was bittersweet as Buckingham Palace confirmed ahead of the event, ‘Prince Harry will come to the King’s coronation, but Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, will not be attending.’ The Prince attended only briefly and rushed from the ceremony back to California to get back for his son’s birthday.
This move was seen as a snub by some, and a sensible decision by others who thought the royals simply wanted to avoid any drama and protect themselves by not attending this event. Stories about tensions between the royal couple and the Royal Family have continued for months with some claiming the possibility of King Charles and Prince Harry reconciling is ‘almost impossible’. This has only been exacerbated by the release of Harry’s memoir, Spare, and his Netflix docuseries with his wife Meghan.
According to one royal expert at the Daily Mail, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Trooping the Color invite was never sent and the royal couple were deliberately not invited to this event.
Richard Eden wrote for Daily Mail, “When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit royal duties three years ago, Queen Elizabeth said they would ‘always be much-loved members of my family’. And Buckingham Palace officials were keen to stress that they would continue to be invited to family events. I hear that Prince Harry and Meghan have not, however, been invited to the King’s Birthday Parade next weekend.”
“It will be the first time in Harry’s life that he has not been welcome at the monarch’s official birthday celebrations,” the expert added. He then confirmed that a well-placed source told him, ‘I’m afraid it’s a reflection of the state of relations at the moment.’