He’ll be at his own party. That is the decision of the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, who will not accompany Prince Harry today at the coronation of his father, King Carlos III. It is that this May 6, while the British live the largest royal celebration since the anointing of Queen Elizabeth seven decades ago, it will also be 4 years since the arrival in the world of Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, the child who caused what was perhaps the most obvious and scandalous trigger for Megxit, the name by which the abandonment of obligations to the crown of the youngest son of the new monarch and his wife was known, in 2020.
In his historic interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, when she was already installed with Harry in Montecito, California, the actress assured that during her first pregnancy “there were conversations” about “how dark” her baby was going to be and what implications that would have for the British monarchy. Now it is little Archie who gives the American duchess the perfect excuse not to attend the enthronement of her father-in-law.
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In any neighborhood family, having a celebration of this magnitude coincide with that of one of the grandchildren of the honoree would be understood, at the very least, as a lack of consideration, although Archie’s birthday was hardly on the radar of the team Clarence House, the government and the British church when deciding the date of enthronement.
But after all, markle is a commoner, so the versions that say that she felt snooped by her in-laws do not sound crazy. For the Sussexes, it is not the first time that a royal celebration coincides with a celebration for their boys: the first birthday of her youngest daughter, Lilibet, in June 2022, was during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and went practically unnoticed. . So she and the boys had also traveled and the girl blew out the candles at Frogmore Cottage, the residence where they spent their first years together and which they must vacate by order of the king after her coronation.
The fact that Meghan was also present at the queen’s funeral last September has nothing to do with her absence now, the friends who spoke to the press now say: “It is one thing to pay your respects to His Majesty and quite another to attend the beginning of a new reign.”
However, the coincidence – and the fact that neither Archie nor Lilibet were officially invited– will allow Markle to be busy with other things while Harry faces what royal experts anticipate an icy reception, the prince’s first face-to-face with his father and brother since the publication last January of Spare, his book of memories in which he reveals intimacies and does not save qualifications for any, starting because both always treated him as a “replacement”.
As the royal biographer said Sally Bedell Smith, it will be an “elegant solution” that Markle is fulfilling what, as she repeats at every opportunity, is her most important role: that of a mother. Even if she is referred to around the world as “the great absentee”, her mere presence in London “would cause such enormous public intrigue that it would completely overshadow Charles and the rest of the British crown,” he told Access Hollywood. specialized journalist Charlie Lankston.
People magazine announced that the Duchess is planning a small party for her son’s birthday, “low-key and at home.” Lankston also said that Meghan is a great event planner and he puts a lot of dedication to the matter: “He has a great eye for detail and loves these things, souvenirs, balloons and cakes. He likes everything that has to do with the festivities and he does it very well ”.
According to one of the sources consulted by People, “his closest friends and Doria (Ragland), Meghan’s mother, will be there.” But even if the guests are few, they could include names capable of overshadowing an ocean away, like the one from the same Oprah, or Serena Williams, as well as famous neighbors like Ellen DeGeneres and Portia DeRossi, Natalie Portman and Orlando Bloom.
Among its neighbors is also Katy Perry, but the singer will participate in the coronation concert that Harry has no intention of staying. In fact, due to the time difference, it is likely that the prince will be able to be back in California for the biggest celebration, which could be moved to Sunday, May 7. “Meghan would like to be there to support her mother-in-law, but at the same time, the level of scrutiny she receives surpasses everything,” someone close to her told The List. There are always going to be challenges for her beyond reason, and who wants to put herself in that place?
A source close to Windsor told The Mirror this week that “the mood in California is clear: Meghan felt she was being put in an impossible position and the truth is that everyone is quite relieved that the situation has been resolved like this after so much uncertainty while waiting for the RSVP.”
It would be foolish for Harry – who will have no formal role in the ceremony – to be absent, say most of the experts who spent long hours analyzing the prince’s presence at the coronation without his wife and children. Others let it be known that Meghan’s absence is related to the letters she sent to the king after her interview with Winfrey in 2021. It is speculated that Carlos would have written to the couple to communicate his sadness at the tension caused by the broadcast of the program , and her daughter-in-law would have replied that she never wanted to accuse any member of The Firm of racism, but she did want to bring unconscious bias to the discussion table by discriminating against her and her son.
Ashley Hansen, the spokeswoman for the Sussexes, He issued a statement in which he calls these versions ridiculous: “The Duchess is focused on her present and is not thinking about the correspondence from two years ago. Any inference to that effect is false and downright ridiculous. We encourage the tabloids to stop the exhausting media circus that only they have created.”
The hardest of the reports that agitated that circus these days is the one that says it was Meghan who forced Harry to appear at his father’s coronation. “They need it so they can continue to profit from the Royal Family brand,” said Australian presenter Piers Morgan. “The two of them spent the last three years cartooning the Windsors, naming and dirtying them up in their documentary, calling them racists! Why are you going to your father’s coronation after exposing him like that in your book? If you think it’s bad enough to humiliate it even on Netflix, why don’t you skip the biggest event in the world? The answer is that Harry was directed by his wife to get back into the main game, because that’s where the money is. If Harry doesn’t appeal to his royal bond, the ticket machine runs out. It is the only reason why he will be there even if no one in his family speaks to him, ”he declared.
This is how things are on both sides of the Atlantic, at least so far. As royal biographer Tom Bower put it, “She is a master of the unexpected, so we can be sure that once Harry arrives in London, something new will emerge from California.” Perhaps she will suggest to her husband that he leave at the last moment because he has not been placed in the same place as the high-ranking members of the royal family. Whatever he does, Bower says, there’s no way do not obscure the meaning of the coronation.
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