King Charles III’s coronation is looming and, after months of speculation, it has been confirmed that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been invited. A spokesperson for the Sussexes revealed to The Times on March 4 that Harry has “recently revealed email correspondence from His Majesty’s office regarding the coronation.” However, there has still been no word on whether the couple will accept the invitation. “An immediate decision on whether the Duke and Duchess will attend will not be disclosed by us at this time.”
Charles’s coronation is expected to take place on May 6 at Westminster Abbey in London. Buckingham Palace announced on Oct. 11, 2022, that the coronation ceremony will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury and that Queen Consort Camilla will also be crowned alongside her husband. “The Coronation will reflect the monarch’s role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry,” the Palace added. The coronation date is the same as Harry and Meghan’s son, Archie’s 4th birthday.
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The ongoing public rift between Harry and the royal family following the release of his memoir “Spare” has led many to question whether he will attend his father’s coronation at all. This was further fueled on March 1, after a spokesperson confirmed the couple had been evicted from their UK home, Frogmore cottage.
When Harry was asked about the coronation in his ITV interview with journalist Tom Bradby in January, he didn’t confirm his attendance either. “There’s a lot that can happen between now and then. But, the door is always open. The ball is in their court,” he said. On ITV’s “This Morning“, royal journalist Camilla Tominey said on March 6 that it is widely thought that Harry will attend the coronation, but Meghan will stay home with Archie and Lilibet to celebrate her son’s birthday. This has not been confirmed.
In a live-streamed event by Harry’s publisher, Penguin Random House, on March 4, the Duke of Sussex told “toxic trauma” expert Dr Gabor Maté how much therapy helped him and that he “did the thing of trying to encourage everyone [in his family] to do it”. He explained that therapy had taught him a “new language and the people that I was surrounded by, they didn’t speak that language.”
A source told People that Charles reportedly wants the situation between his family to “calm down” in time for his coronation. The insider adds: “It is such a momentous occasion for Charles, and he would want his son to be at the coronation to witness it. He would like to have Harry back in the family. If they don’t sort it out, it will always be part of the king’s reign and how he has left his family disjointed. He has had a reputation as a distant parent, and it would be awful for him for that to continue.”
