Prince Harry will attend the coronation of King Charles without his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
The couple’s attendance has been the source of much speculation after they failed to RSVP to Charles's invite by the deadline of April 3, with Buckingham Palace receiving no correspondence.
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But on Wednesday it was confirmed that Harry, 38, would be present when his father Charles, 74, and his wife Queen Camilla, 75, are officially crowned at Westminster Abbey on Saturday May, 6, 2023, but his wife Meghan, 41, and their two children, Prince Archie, 3, and 22-month-old Princess Lilibet, will stay at their family home in California.
An official statement from the Palace read: “Buckingham Palace is pleased to confirm that the Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on 6 May. The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.”
As Harry and Meghan are no longer full-time working royals they would have no formal role in the ceremony.
Among the royal family members expected to join the king and queen in the carriage procession from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace.
After the crowning and enthronement ceremony, are the Prince and Princess of Wales – Harry's older brother William and sister-in-law Catherine – and their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, Princess Anne and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh among others.
Meghan who was known as Meghan Markle before she wed Harry – and the children’s absences mean that King Charles has only seen his granddaughter Lilibet once, when the family briefly returned to the UK to attend a service of thanksgiving for the late Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee in June 2022.
The coronation date also falls on the same day as Prince Archie’s fourth birthday.
Harry’s attendance at the coronation will be the first time he has seen his family since the queen’s funeral in September 2022.
Since then, he has released his bombshell memoir “Spare” which included a number of revelations about his relationship with his closest family members and critical passages about the institution of the British royal family.