Why Did Duchess Meghan Skip King Charles III's Coronation?
Meghan and her kids, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, will not attend the May 6 event. Here's what we know about their absence.
After much speculation, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's RSVP status to King Charles III's coronation has at last been publicly disclosed: Prince Harry will attend the event, but Duchess Meghan will not.
Neither Meghan nor her and Harry's children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, will join the duke as he travels to London in May for the highly-anticipated event, Buckingham Palace and an Archewell spokesperson confirmed today to BAZAAR.com. So, why exactly will the duchess and the Sussex kids miss the coronation?
Archie's fourth birthday, which falls on the same day as the king's coronation, has influenced Meghan's decision to remain in California with her children, BAZAAR understands. Additionally, though Harry will be present at the coronation, he will likely not attend other related engagements over the weekend.
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Meghan carrying her children in her arms at her and Harry’s Montecito, California home. (Photo: Netflix)
Meghan carrying her children in her arms at her and Harry’s Montecito, California home.
The May 6 ceremony will mark the first time that Harry will publicly reunite with his family since he and Meghan attended Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in September 2022.
Last month, Harry made a surprise visit to London in order to attend a pretrial hearing against Associated Newspapers, of which he is one of the claimants bringing legal action against the publisher for illegal information gathering.
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BAZAAR previously reported that Harry notified the king of his visit before flying from California to London but was told that the monarch would be "too busy." (The king was originally slated to be in France at the time, but that visit was postponed due to anti-pension reform protests.)
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Prince William and Princess Kate told BAZAAR that the family was "not in Windsor" during Harry's visit due to Easter holidays.
Other members of the royal family who will attend the coronation include William and Kate, along with their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. It is currently uncertain if their youngest, four-year-old Prince Louis, will join his older siblings at the coronation ceremony, but he will be present during the post-coronation procession from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace.
This article originally appeared in Harper's BAZAAR US.
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