King Charles’ massive Prince Harry and Meghan Markle coronation gamble

The King has blinked and wants to “broker” a deal with his renegade son but it could come at a high cost.

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Being the Archbishop of Canterbury used to look like quite the cushy gig. Sure, the mitre is a bit ridiculous and overseeing royal weddings, with live global TV audiences in the billions, would be a tad nerve wracking.

Still, it still looked like a relatively plum appointment, what with getting the keys to Lambeth Palace and never having to run a parish bake sale ever again.

So let’s just pity Justin Welby who got the posting in 2013.

Welby will go down in history as the first leader of the Church of England to become embroiled in controversy after an Oprah Winfrey TV special and the first leader of a world religion to be called in to stymie a possible Netflix story arc.

(Hard to see Pope Francis taking a break from his day job to have to deal with the cardinals wanting to make a reality show …)

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby sparked headlines when he asked Oprah Winfrey what she did for a living at Harry and Meghan’s wedding. Picture: Bethany Clarke/Getty Images

Over the weekend, Welby was back in the headlines with the Mail on Sunday reporting that King Charles has decided it is better to have royal refuseniks the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attend his May 6 coronation than to leave them to their own devices back in the US, and to that end has asked the Archbishop to “broker a deal” with the couple.

According to the Mail, His Majesty is of the view that if the Sussexes stayed away from London it could end up being a “greater distraction” than having the duo in the royal family’s midst, which is why Charles “is prepared to make concessions to persuade them to attend.

On the table for Harry is “a high-profile seating position in the Abbey or an informal assurance that he will be able to keep his titles as an inducement to attend”.

The big hitch to the King’s plan comes in the form of heir to the throne and the Bane of Necklaces Everywhere, Prince William, who reportedly has qualms over his dear old Dad’s scheme. The Mail has reported that Willy “fears that unless Harry’s visit is tightly scripted, he could steal the limelight by, for example, going on a walkabout in a deprived London borough with Meghan”.

(A quick side note: If two people can “steal the limelight” away from a once-in-a-generation event by doing nothing more grandiose than wandering about Dagenham while people make TikToks then it does not say much about the robustness of the new King’s reign.)

Willy is said to be worried Harold could pull a stunt if he and Meghan come to King Charles’ coronation. Picture: Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images

Anywho, bottom line: Charles wants Harry and Meghan inside Westminster Abbey for his big day and is willing to give the Sussexes decent seats and not stick them behind a convenient pillar or random German cousin who is unusually tall, all in the name of a PR-crisis-free coronation.

Which is to not say that the Duke and Duchess of Netflix are keen as mustard to play ball and are currently teaching their children Archie and Lili how to bow and curtsy or the best way to get a regal Jack Russell off your leg.

That Tony Robbins assertiveness podcast that Harry has been listening to (I’m guessing) would seem to have worked, because, per the Mail’s sources, the Duke wants certain “terms and conditions” to be met in return for their presence.

A source has told the Mail: “All the indications are that Harry is being advised to agree to nothing at this stage and ‘play it long’ right up to the last minute, which is making negotiations with him very difficult.

“Harry’s camp made clear that the idea that he would just attend the coronation and behave himself but then be stripped of his titles was a total non-starter.

“While he might decide at some point to discard his titles of his own volition, he objects to the idea of being forcibly stripped of them.”

(Well, of course he might ‘object’ to them possibly losing their Sussex titles given it is not in their interest to find out if Netflix is quite so generous if the cheques suddenly have to be made out to Mr and Mrs Mountbatten-Windsor.)

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle don’t want to be shunted to the second row at King Charles’ coronation. Picture: Arthur Edwards/WPA Pool/Getty Images.

So let’s zoom out here, bigger picture time and all that.

For Charles, this looks like he is pursuing a containment strategy, some way of minimising the chances of the Sussexess staging some sort of TV tantrum right at exactly the moment Justin is anointing him with oil or he is reciting the coronation oath.

His calculation would seem to be that it is safer to make a few “concessions” and keep the Sussexes’ sweet rather than having to worry about what they might be getting up to in Montecito.

But can or will this appeasement of sorts work? If the King decides to go down this road, would it ultimately work in his favour or could it go down about as well as that time the Archbishop’s chaplain Cardinal Thomas Wolsey failed to help Henry VIII get that divorce he wanted from wife number one?

Is King Charles playing a dangerous game by trying to appease Prince Harry. Picture: Jack Hill/AFP

Recent history would suggest that Charles is taking quite the gamble here.

In the last 12 months we have had two major royal events – the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee four-day celebration and then her funeral in September – both of which Harry and Meghan not only attended but were on their best behaviour.

They did not stage any rogue walkabouts in Brixton or give any interviews to roving breakfast presenters or do anything so controversial as blink at an inopportune moment. Gold stars all around!

And yet, looking back at both of these historic outings and Harry and Meghan’s very presence hovered, blimp-like, over proceedings. Their very presence back behind Palace gates and The Firm’s handling of their return were huge stories.

After all, what would you prefer to read about? A septuagenarian taking part in a lengthy (well, hour-long) religious ceremony or the latest glamorous instalment in this royal soapie? In getting to watch as the Prince and Princess of Wales clap eyes on the Sussexes for the first time since Spare and all of its juicy, often gossipy, family revelations landed?

Harry and Meghan were on their best behaviour at the Queen’s funeral in September 2022. Picture: Nariman El-Mofty/WPA Pool/Getty Images.

The more I think about it, the more I wonder, can Charles win the fight for public and media interest if they go?

Let’s imagine that, come May, Harry and Meghan jet into London and things go swimmingly. We would end up with photos of the Duke and Duchess within lipgloss-sharing distance of the Waleses and no one throwing a punch or bursting into histrionic tears.

Headline writers the length and breadth of Fleet Street would start to busily work on their ‘brothers united’ puns and have to shelve that old favourite, ‘Splitting heirs.’ It would be the biggest – or at least the most clicked, read and shared – story of the day.

Or, let’s imagine that things go the other way and that having the Waleses and the Sussexes sharing a pew would trigger a repeat of Commonwealth Day 2020 when the froideur between the two couples was so obvious they could have triggered a new Ice Age. It would be the biggest – or at least the most clicked, read and shared – story of the day.

A rather frosty Commonwealth Day service on March 9, 2020. Picture: Phil Harris/AFP

However, the other option for Charles – putting his foot down and issuing a coronation invitation with like it or lump it terms – is hardly likely to work in his favour. It is not as if Harry and Meghan are shy about popping up on TV screens and sharing their feelings about his family.

Harry and Meghan have the King over something of a barrel. (Only the very best sort of barrel of course for His Majesty though.) Spare would seem to have hit its mark and the way things stand now, with just over three months to go, is that Charles is willing to capitulate in order to avoid further dramahhhhh.

Lucky Justin Welby, left to “broker” this deal. Here’s hoping that UN Peacekeepers might be able to lend him one of their signature blue berets because he is going to need it.

Daniela Elser is a writer and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.

Originally published as King Charles’ massive Prince Harry and Meghan Markle coronation gamble