As King Charles' coronation date gets closer on the 2023 TV schedule, the chatter continues to find itself revolving around his youngest son and daughter-in-law’s potential attendance. Now, we officially know that Prince Harry will be going to his father’s ceremony, while Meghan Markle stays in California with their two kids. However, despite the Duke of Sussex's appearance being confirmed, a royal expert called the prince out for leaking information to the press, and he explained why a reconciliation between him and the Royal Family likely won’t happen.
Prince Harry has always had a turbulent relationship with his family, however, after the release of the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, and the allegations and revelations revealed in Spare things have seemingly gotten worse. A big question mark surrounding the coronation was the Duke of Sussex’s attendance. However, now that he’s going, people are speculating how the Royal Family will treat him. Alexander Larman, the author of The Windsors at War: The King, His Brother, and a Family Divided, called the prince out while chatting about the likelihood of Harry hanging around before or after the ceremony with ET Canada, noting the Royal Family member’s tendency to talk to the press:
If I was King Charles and I had just had my coronation, I think the last thing I’d want to do would be to hang around and talk to my son. Because ultimately, what is commonly known around Buckingham Palace and around St. James’s Palace is that Harry and Meghan leak to the media like nobody’s business.
While the author claims the palace believes Prince Harry leaked information to the press, the Duke of Sussex has alleged that the Royal Family has been the party giving out information. In the weeks before the prince’s attendance decision was announced he was in London for a tabloid trial, and insiders inferred that he had “torpedoed any remaining bridges” with his family based on his statement. However, it was later revealed that the king and prince didn’t meet up because King Charles was reportedly just busy.
Larman continued to explain why Prince Harry reportedly leaking information to the press could be a reason why the king won’t want to sit down with his youngest son during his big day, saying:
I mean, the number of times you see a friend of the Sussexes being quoted somewhere is really quite extraordinary. So, in the very unlikely event that King Charles sits down with Harry and says, ‘Oh, I’ve been a terrible father, forgive me…’ But, actually the chances of all that making it into the media is pretty much 100 percent.
As Larman continued to talk about the father-son relationship, he said that the king’s “actual feelings as a father” could include “betrayal and hurt,” due to Prince Harry’s actions. In conclusion, the writer explained that between everything the Duke has said about his father and family, as well as the information that has been leaked, he doesn’t see the two working things out in May during the coronation.
So, I would be very, very surprised indeed if there was to be any kind of reconciliation between the two of them at this stage. Not to rule it out in the future… life is a strange thing and events happen faster than we can all imagine, but I don’t see that happening on this occasion.
It’s unclear if Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been at the root of many leaks, and if this will be a reason why the Duke could be less involved with the coronation. However, it has been inferred for a while now that if the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were to attend the ceremony there will likely be stipulations including not sitting with senior members of the family, and not being included in the procession.
At the moment, we do know Prince Harry will be in attendance at King Charles' coronation, however, his involvement is unknown. There have been a lot of claims made surrounding the Royal Family’s feelings about the Duke of Sussex, and it will be fascinating to see how this turbulent relationship impacts the ceremony and the news surrounding it.
