Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, will not be among the guests at King Charles’ birthday celebrations in London on June 15, according to a report by People. This marks the second consecutive year that the couple has been excluded from the event, known as ‘Trooping the Colour’.
Since stepping back from their royal duties in 2020, Harry, 39, and Markle, 42, have been living in California. They last attended Trooping the Colour in 2019, shortly after the birth of their son, Prince Archie.
The event was significantly scaled down in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was held at Windsor Castle without a large family gathering.
In 2022, Harry and Meghan travelled to the UK for a special Trooping the Colour during Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee, celebrating her 70 years on the throne. However, they did not join the royal family on the Buckingham Palace balcony. Instead, they watched the festivities, including the military procession and the Royal Air Force’s aerial display, from a room above Horse Guards Parade with other non-working royals.
Prince Harry returned to the UK in May to celebrate 10 years of the Invictus Games. However, he did not reunite with his father due to King Charles’ ‘full’ schedule. They last saw each other in February when Harry visited London amid news of the King’s diagnosis, meeting briefly at Clarence House.
People further reported that while there were questions about whether Trooping the Colour would proceed this year, the Ministry of Defence confirmed on May 29 that the event would go ahead as planned. Speculation began after King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla cancelled engagements after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a general election in July. Buckingham Palace said royal outings would be postponed to avoid diverting attention from the campaign.
King Charles will attend the event amid his cancer treatment, travelling in a horse-drawn carriage alongside Queen Camilla instead of riding on horseback as in previous years. The palace also updated Catherine, Princess of Wales’s participation amid her cancer diagnosis. The Princess of Wales, 42, is the honorary colonel of the Irish Guards, which will fly its flag at the parade this year. However, she will not take the salute at the Colonel’s Review on June 8. Instead, Lieutenant General James Bucknall will, People reported. It added that it is still unclear whether Princess Kate will join the royal family at Trooping the Colour on June 15. She has attended the event every year since marrying Prince William in 2011, except during pandemic-related changes.
