Prince Harry Was "Deeply Saddened" When the Queen Rejected His Remembrance Day Request

Prince Harry was reportedly "deeply saddened" when the Queen rejected his request to have a wreath laid on his behalf at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day.

  • According to a new report from the Daily Mail, an incident last fall may have "sparked a chain of events that would eventually culminate in [Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's] tell-all Oprah interview."
  • The incident in question: When the Queen rejected Harry's request to have a wreath laid on his behalf at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day. The gesture was reportedly extremely important to Harry, who served in the military himself and has remained active in veterans' affairs since.
  • "He was very passionate about what he’d done, he has obviously served his time," Ex-Household Cavalry Lance Corporal Martyn, a friend of Prince Harry's who served with him in Afghanistan, said of his reaction to the incident. "To have that taken away will be a massive ordeal for him, it’s a big thing that he’s done, and personally I hope it’s worth it for him... he is obviously just looking out for his family."

It's been a long year for the royal family and for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the wake of their royal exit. The dramatic year has culminated in the Sussexes' decision to make their royal exit permanent and to sit down for what promises to be a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.

According to a report from the Daily Mail, an incident that caused significant tension for Harry last fall may have ultimately led him and Meghan to their decision to open up publicly about their issues with the royal family.

"When the Queen blocked Prince Harry’s Remembrance Day request to have a wreath laid on his behalf at the Cenotaph last year, it sparked a chain of events that would eventually culminate in the couple’s tell-all Oprah interview," the Mail reports.

Whether the incident "sparked a chain of events" that led to Harry and Meghan's Oprah interview or not, it does seem clear that it, along with the loss of his honorary military titles in February, left Harry feeling very sad.

"He was very passionate about what he’d done, he has obviously served his time," Ex-Household Cavalry Lance Corporal Martyn, a friend of Prince Harry's who served with him in Afghanistan, said according to the Daily Mail. "To have that taken away will be a massive ordeal for him, it’s a big thing that he’s done, and personally I hope it’s worth it for him... he is obviously just looking out for his family."

Oprah With Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Special airs this Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBS.

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Contributing Editor at Marie Claire

Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with over 10 years of professional experience covering entertainment of all genres, from new movie and TV releases to nostalgia, and celebrity news. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.