Harry & Meghan Just Got Snubbed By The Royal Family Again
Days after Kensington Palace dropped the biggest clue yet that Kate Middleton wouldn't be attending Trooping the Colour in 2024, news broke of even more absences at the annual festivities — this time in reference to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex. But unlike Catherine, Princess of Wales, the Sussex's exclusion was caused by a lack of invitation, not major health concerns like Kate's ongoing chemotherapy.
The 2024 event marks the second time Harry and Meghan have been excluded from the guest list since the couple stepped down as working royals four years prior. The couple have maintained a loose relationship with the monarchy, attending a special Platinum Jubilee celebration of the Trooping the Colour in 2022. (Although, it's likely they would not have attended if it wasn't a notable celebration of Queen Elizabeth II). They did not attend the 2020 and 2021 festivities due to pandemic-related changes to the celebration, and they were not invited to the 2023 event.
The couple, who are currently raising their two children in California, have visited their royal roots a few times over the years. Meghan's last appearance with her in-laws was during the late Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in 2022. Harry visited the U.K. in May 2024 to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Invictus Games. Before that, he had made a quick trip across the pond to be with his father after news of King Charles' cancer diagnosis broke.
The Trooping the Colour snub seems to confirm signs that things aren't so amicable
The feud between Harry and Meghan and the royal family has stretched over years, and the invite snub suggests there is no end in sight. From his tell-all interviews to his explosive memoir "Spare," there are several signs that Prince Harry has no plans to return to the royal family. Both his visit to his father, King Charles, and his attendance at his 2023 coronation were brief, with Harry leaving the country as quickly as he arrived.
Even when relations between the couple and their family were pleasant enough for Harry and Meghan to be invited to Trooping the Colour 2022, they did not watch the military procession from the Buckingham Palace balcony with Harry's brother, father, grandmother, and in-laws. It's notable that this occurred before Queen Elizabeth II implemented a new rule wherein only working royals were permitted to watch from the palace balcony.
Generally speaking, it seems like the greatest tensions remain between the Sussexes and William, Prince of Wales, and his wife, Kate. "[Harry] wants to reconcile with his brother so that the children can have some kind of a relationship, but he and Meghan still think that a groveling apology needs to come from William and Kate First," royal author Tom Quinn told the Mirror in March 2024. However, Quinn said, "That just isn't going to happen." Conversely, William and Kate reportedly requested Harry and Meghan visit Kate following her cancer diagnosis, but Meghan refused.
Harry and Meghan's royal-adjacent trips have been giving working royals grief
Regardless of the feud, it's difficult — arguably impossible — to separate Harry, Duke of Sussex from his royal roots as the entire world watched him grow up as the prince and youngest son of then-Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana. This has made Harry and Meghan Markle's overseas trips a bit of a logistical headache, considering they are still royal family members but are no longer traveling at the behest of the British Foreign Office.
Harry and Meghan visited Nigeria in the spring of 2024 to promote the following year's Invictus Games. But considering their non-working royal affiliation, and the fact that Nigeria is part of the British Commonwealth, it was more difficult than usual to pin down the appropriate protocol. "Harry and Meghan's trip was very interesting since it didn't fit any of the normally accepted royal categories. This would have given the High Commission in Nigeria a headache," an anonymous royal source told Page Six. "If a prince lands in your patch, officially or otherwise, you have protocol, security, and media issues which have to be right."
However, if there were any headaches involved, it doesn't appear that Harry and Meghan felt them. Both Markle and Prince Harry have a deep connection to Africa, and the couple spoke glowingly of their time in Nigeria, ensuring they would be back as soon as possible.