Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Still Haven’t Been Invited to King Charles’ Coronation

While it seems to be King Charles’ wish to have his son Prince Harry and daughter-in-law Meghan Markle attend his Coronation on May 6—in just under three months’ time—according to People, the official invitation still hasn’t been received.

A Palace insider tells the outlet that the invitation will come, but a source close to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex says that “invitation has yet to be extended, and there has been no movement toward reconciliation,” the outlet reports.

The relationship between the Sussexes and the rest of the royal family has remained strained in the wake of Harry’s tell-all, Spare, which came out last month, and the couple’s docuseries on Netflix, Harry & Meghan, released in December. In a press interview surrounding Spare, Harry himself said of his attendance at the Coronation that “There’s a lot that can happen between now and then. But, you know, the door is always open. The ball is in their court. There’s a lot to be discussed, and I really hope that they are willing to sit down and talk about it.”

According to People, “the way things stand now, there is still a long way to go.”

“The problem is that [Harry and Meghan] want a capitulation and apology by the Palace, but when ‘recollections vary,’ that’s quite difficult,” a source says.

Hope remains, though—according to royal historian Robert Lacey, despite tensions, the royal family has been able to unite before: “There have been some very grave disagreements between them,” he says. “But the Platinum Jubilee and the funerals of the Queen and Prince Philip did demonstrate that they could put personal enmity aside for the sake of the bigger cause. And that is what the Coronation will be all about.”

In summation, says royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith: “The monarchy is bigger than a family argument.”

And, once again, let’s reiterate that Charles wants his son there, not just at the Coronation, but “back in the family,” People reports. This, hopefully, will equate to an invitation being issued and potentially an olive branch as well.

“Quite apart from [Charles’] paternal hope to reunite with his son, one of the jobs of the royal family is showing how to cope with the problems we all have in a human and thoughtful way,” Lacey says. “What will be a success for the family in the future is not reconciliation necessarily, but mutual acceptance of different ideas and priorities.”