Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ‘expected’ to attend Kings’; defend their children’s royal titles
Speculation is rife the Sussexes’ will return to the UK for the King’s coronation, as the US-based couple issued a statement on their children’s royal titles.
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are “expected” to attend King Charles’ historic coronation, despite the rift with the royal family.
Buckingham Palace staff are said to be including the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in the seating plans for the event, the Daily Mail reports, citing unnamed sources.
But insiders say the couple have not formally accepted the King’s emailed invitation for the May 6 crowning.
“Harry and Meghan are being factored into all of the planning,” a source said, according to the Mail.
“The cars, the seating plans, dining arrangements, everything. The staff are certainly working on the expectation they are coming.”
“These kind of arrangements have to be made well in advance.”
Another source said “the indication” is that the pair will attend despite “a lot” of work needed on arranging their attendance.
A spokesman for the Sussexes said last week the pair had received an email invitation from the palace but added an “immediate decision” on their attendance will “not be disclosed by us at this time”.
It comes as Prince Harry and Meghan’s two children, Archie and Lilibet, have officially been recognised as a prince and princess respectively in a move seen by royal watchers as King Charles extending an olive branch to make peace with his son.
In a statement, the Sussexes said it is their children’s “birthright” to be called prince and princess.
The couple referred publicly to their daughter as “Princess Lilibet” for the first time on Wednesday after confirming she had been christened last week.
In a new statement defending the decision to use the children’s royal titles, the Sussexes said the matter had been “settled for some time” with King Charles.
Under royal protocol, the children of a son of the monarch are traditionally given the title of prince of princess.
The two young royals have had their titles updated on the line of succession on the royal family’s website, where they sit 6th and 7th in line to the throne.
“The children’s titles have been a birthright since their grandfather became Monarch,” a spokesman for the Sussexes said.
“This matter has been settled for some time in alignment with Buckingham Palace.”
King Charles is said to have told Prince Harry that his children would be allowed to be called prince and princess in a “private conversation” after the Queen’s funeral in September.
Archie and Lilibet’s titles were finally changed on the royal website on Thursday morning – some six months on from the Queen’s death.
They are now no longer referred to as just “master” and “miss” Mountbatten-Windsor on the Buckingham Palace web page. Their titles were updated to “Prince Archie of Sussex” and “Princess Lilibet of Sussex”.
The unexpected move was branded a “peacekeeping” exercise by King Charles to thaw frosty relations with Prince Harry whose relationship with the royal family has deteriorated further since the publication of his memoir, Spare, which did not hold back in revealing intimate details of their lives. But the move to give titles to the two children is seen as an olive branch from the King.
“This move to officially give Harry’s children their birth titles is clearly the king saying he wants peace, he wants close contact with his son,” said royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams.
“It would be wrong to say the king does not love Harry, he does, very much indeed.
“He wants him to come to the coronation despite the fights. It remains to be seen if Harry and Meghan come in May,” Mr Fitzwilliams said.
As for the couple – who have routinely criticised the royal family – wanting titles for their children, Mr Fitzwilliams said: “The point is that the Sussexes want the titles for their children, it’s automatic, but they’ve said the children can choose to turn it down when they get older.”
ROYALS SNUB LILIBET’S CHRISTENING
The Sussexes confirmed on Wednesday that Lilibet had been christened in the US.
But in a deepening of the rift between the Sussexes and the royal family, no senior royals attended the ceremony, which was held at the Sussexes’ California home last Friday.
Royal journalist Omid Scobie, who is close to the Sussexes, reported that “King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Princess Catherine were invited but didn’t attend”.
It is not known whether any other royal family members were present.
In a statement confirming the news, the Sussexes’ referred to the 21-month-old as “Princess Lilibet Diana” – revealing for the first time that the couple has decided to invoke their right to use “Princess” for Lilibet since the accession to the throne of King Charles last September.
“I can confirm that Princess Lilibet Diana was christened on Friday, March 3 by the Archbishop of Los Angeles, the Rev John Taylor,” a spokesman for the couple said.
The announcement is the first time Lilibet has been publicly called a princess.
Buckingham Palace has said the royal website – which currently lists her and brother Archie with the titles miss and master – will “be updated in due course” to reflect the title.
But the absence of senior royals shows that the bad blood between the Sussexes and the royal family is still a way off being healed.
“It’s not surprising that the King and Queen and Prince William and his wife didn’t go; the invitation was a gesture by Prince Harry who would’ve known that they wouldn’t been able to drop work commitments but he would’ve given them plenty of notice,” royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told News Corp.
“All one can do is wish Lilibet well but the royals’ absence illustrates the marked rift between the Palace and Prince Harry and Meghan. The fact [the Palace] didn’t send a representative to California on their behalf isn’t good,” Mr Fitzwilliams said.
“It shows that time is still not healing their differences and a lot of work still needs to be done. What remains to be seen is whether the Sussexes attend the King’s coronation in May.”
Lilibet, who is named after the Queen and Princess Diana, was christened in an intimate ceremony at the Sussexes’ Montecito mansion last Friday.
In the absence of senior royals, the couple were joined by son Archie, three, Ms Markle’s mother, Doria Ragland, Lilibet’s godfather, Hollywood mogul, Tyler Perry and, according to People magazine, 20 to 30 guests.
Following the ceremony, guests were said to have enjoyed an afternoon of food and dancing and were entertained by a gospel choir Perry flew in for the party.
The group performed Oh Happy Day and This Little Light of Mine, which was also played at the Sussexes’ wedding in 2018.
Instead of being in California for the ceremony, King Charles met Chris Dawson, the Governor of Western Australia, and his wife, Darrilyn, at Buckingham Palace.
In an interview with People magazine in January after the release of his bombshell memoir, Spare, Prince Harry spoke of his wish for his children to have a good relationship with the royal family.
“I’ve said before that I’ve wanted a family, not an institution — so of course, I would love nothing more than for our children to have relationships with members of my family, and they do with some, which brings me great joy,” Prince Harry said.
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Originally published as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ‘expected’ to attend Kings’; defend their children’s royal titles
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