After much will they or won’t they, details on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s coronation RSVP have been revealed. The Duke of Sussex’s making the trip across the pond while the Duchess of Sussex is not in what a commentator calls a “masterstroke” decision.
Prince Harry’s going to the coronation, Meghan’s staying in California
On April 12, Buckingham Palace confirmed Harry’s going to see King Charles III crowned solo. Meaning, unlike Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral or Platinum Jubilee weekend, Meghan won’t accompany him.
The reason? Meghan’s staying home in Montecito, California, with her and Harry’s children.
“BREAKING: “Buckingham Palace is pleased to confirm that The Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on May 6th. The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet,” Omid Scobie, a royal correspondent, tweeted.
Scobie, who is also the co-author of the Harry and Meghan biography, Finding Freedom, added in a separate tweet the trip’s expected to be short.
“I understand that Archie’s fourth birthday (also on May 6) played a factor in the couple’s decision,” Scobie said. “Expect it to be a fairly quick trip to the UK for Prince Harry, who will only be attending the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey.”
Commentator thinks Meghan Markle ‘doesn’t want to put herself through’ the scrutiny that comes with attending the coronation
Apart from Archie’s birthday, scrutiny likely made up “a huge part of the decision,” according to royal expert Afua Hagan. Meghan, Hagan noted, received negative headlines after attending the queen’s funeral. This time around, she may simply want to avoid more criticism.
Meghan “doesn’t want to put herself through all that because it’s not worth it,” Hagan said (via Express). It’s “got to be quite frustrating and annoying given she is just living her life and going about her business supporting her husband.”
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Despite being the “least likely scenario,” Meghan skipping the coronation is a “masterstroke,” Hagan said.
“She has taken away the ability for people to criticize what she’s wearing, what she’s doing, or not getting in a car the right way,” the expert explained. “People won’t be able to mock her.”
“That is part of the reason she didn’t want to give them the sideshow she didn’t want to let them tear strips off her,” Hagan added.
Another commentator says Meghan Markle ‘has let herself down’ by skipping the coronation
Royal author and expert Ingrid Seward has a different take. Speaking to the U.K.’s GB News, the editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine said Meghan’s “let herself down.”
“She could have come to the UK, be on the arm of her husband, gone to the abbey and just thought, ‘Stuff the lot of you. I’m here, I’m looking gorgeous, I can do this, I’m an actress, after all. And then we’re going to go home.’”
“I think that would have taken guts,” Seward said. “Because I believe that she really couldn’t face the idea of coming here to an abbey full of people who didn’t like her. Potentially a country of people that didn’t like her.”
“The birthday party of a four-year-old child, it’s an excuse,” the William and Harry author added. “I think she’s let herself down, her husband down, and very much her father-in-law down.”
The coronation is on May 6, 2023, at Westminster Abbey in London, England.
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