Prince Harry and Meghan Markle “Hold the Upper Hand” When It Comes to King Charles’ Coronation

(Image credit: Getty)

published 4 March 2023

Invites are due to be sent out for King Charles’ Coronation on May 6 within the week, and, despite ongoing and explosive drama surrounding the King evicting Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from their U.K. home, Frogmore Cottage, the couple are still expected to be invited to the ceremony, Us Weekly reports.

Marie Claire reported today that the Sussexes were served with an eviction notice to vacate the property on January 11—just one day after the release of Harry’s bombshell memoir, Spare, on January 10. (Yeah—not a coincidence.) So, while this is all news to the general public, those in the know have been aware of this for nearly two months. Has it been enough time to cool tempers? Who knows.

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams tells Us Weekly “I feel that they’ll definitely be invited, but I think that the dynamic is changing. The royals have put up with a tremendous amount of problems, so far as they’re concerned. Since the beginning of December to the publication of Spare and all those interviews, and now the interview coming up, it’s been a damaging and difficult time for them.”

Okay, the TLDR for those living under a rock: There have long been strains between Harry, Meghan, and the rest of the royal family. They began to boil over in December with the release of Harry & Meghan, the couple’s six-part Netflix docuseries, and exploded into smithereens with the publication of Spare the following month. Eviction papers were served apparently as a retaliation of sorts, and now, two questions are begged: Not only will the Sussexes attend the Coronation, but will they even be invited? (If you’re Fitzwilliams, it’s a yes, at least on the invite part.)

Harry’s older brother Prince William, according to Fitzwilliams, “feels very strongly” about Harry’s attendance (gonna assume big brother feels strongly against seeing Harry in May), but, after all, “Charles is a symbol of national unity, of course, as the monarch, and the invitation comes from him,” Fitzwilliams says. “So as far as William is concerned, I mean, it’s a terribly deep rift, and I don’t see it being mended.”

Page Six reports that, despite everything, Harry and Meghan have an open invitation to attend the Coronation. And, assuming that they do get the invite, the outlet reports that the Sussexes have the upper hand, as attention will be on them regardless of their presence or their absence.

“Whatever happens, Harry and Meghan will always be the ones in the headlines,” a Palace insider says. “Whether they come or they stay at home in California, they do hold the upper hand.”

Another royal source tells the outlet that Buckingham Palace expect the pair to attend: “Harry has always vowed to uphold the values of the monarchy,” the insider says. “And how do you not come to your father’s Coronation?”

The event is getting into hot water, as headlines just like this are threatening to overshadow Charles’ big day. Page Six reports that Charles and his team of advisors will want to settle all of this before May 6.

“Nothing must deflect from the actual Coronation,” friend of the royal family Hugo Vickers says. “It’s very important. I don’t know if Harry and Meghan will both come [to the Coronation], but the message I’m getting is that Charles is concerned about his son and wishes to leave the door open for him.”

Just not the door of Frogmore, apparently. (Sorry, had to.) Page Six cites a Palace insider as saying it was the perfect time for Charles to serve the eviction papers, as “there is not much sympathy left for Harry and Meghan in the U.K.” Yet, to the Sussexes, “being chucked out of Frogmore reportedly feels like yet another move to oust them from the family completely,” Page Six reports.

“It’s a shame, of course,” a Sussex insider says of the eviction, adding that Harry and Meghan are most hurt because Frogmore was a gift from Her late Majesty in 2018, the same year the couple married. "Frogmore was intended to originally be their forever home and was a gift from the Queen before they ever thought of leaving the U.K.”

Practically, a royal source calls Frogmore sitting there empty “wasteful”—the Sussexes rarely visit—and, for their part, Harry and Meghan are, according to the Sussex insider, more than happy at their $14.5 million home in Montecito. “They are not victims, nor do they feel like victims,” the source says. “They have a home to live in, so they are just going along with what is asked and trying to move along.”

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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