Edwina Bartholomew: Why Prince Harry needs to go to King Charles’ coronation

We all get invites we don’t really want but there’s a pivotal reason why Prince Harry needs to be at the King’s Coronation.

We’ve all been there. An email invitation arrives to a function we don’t really want to go to but can’t really say no to. It’s usually a family affair: your second cousin Peter’s destination wedding in Bali; your little brother’s burnout gender reveal; high tea at your elderly aunt’s retirement home on the same weekend as footy finals. You know it’s going to be inconvenient and awkward, you are already dreading the small talk but if you don’t attend, even more family drama will follow.

I suspect that was the vibe in the Sussex household this week when HRH King Charles popped up in their email with an invitation to the coronation.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry. Picture: AFP

Harry Styles, Adele, Ed Sheeran and the Spice Girls have already turned down their invites to perform at the Coronation Concert so the pressure is now on Harry and Megs to provide the sideline entertainment.

So, will they go? If you ask any royal correspondent, they’ll tell you that the Duke and Duchess are damned if they do, irrelevant if they don’t. They’ve traded on their royal connection so much that if they lose it, those Montecito mortgage repayments will add up faster than Philip Lowe can say rate rise.

If they do attend, expect boos from the crowd of royal devotees.

I was an uninvited guest at their wedding, one of the “media vultures” positioned outside the chapel and was again in Windsor while the world waited for Archie to be born.

At those times, there was so much goodwill for the couple, and an energy that surrounded Meghan’s entry into the royal family.

At the athletics event during the Invictus Games at Zuiderpark in April 2022. Picture: Karwai Tang/WireImage)

Even a few years later, I made a critical comment on Sunrise about Harry and Meghan unfairly taking attention away from the Queen and I was absolutely pummelled online.

This publication asked me to write about it at the time and I was too afraid to dip another toe in the royal waters. I even had to add certain words to my blocked lists on social media to minimise the vitriol – believe me that is a list you don’t want to see!

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kiss on the steps of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding at Windsor Castle in 2018. Picture: WPA Pool/Getty Images

But what a difference a few years makes. You’d be hard pressed to find anything positive about the royal couple now.

My guess, and hope, is that we see Harry attend the once-in-a-generation event for his father. I suspect Meghan will stay home with the excuse of celebrating Archie’s birthday, or find an excuse to be in Bali for cousin Pete’s wedding.