Prince Harry attended the coronation — but he didn’t look happy about it
If you felt a gust of wind around noon British time on Saturday, that may have been Prince Harry, breathing a massive sigh of relief that attending his father's coronation was finally over.
We speculate, of course, but it doesn't feel like a stretch to imagine that this was an occasion Harry was eager to have behind him.
A brief refresher on the facts that support this, just from the past few days.
Speculation was rife if Harry would even attend the coronation, as he delayed confirming his attendance until just three weeks ago. (Ladbrokes put the odds at 4/5 that Harry and Meghan would attend and 6/4 that they wouldn't.) Harry flew in only yesterday, the day before the event, (commercial, reportedly on an American Airlines flight), and spent the night at Frogmore Cottage. He's jetting back to Montecito today to celebrate his son Archie's fourth birthday - the ostensible reason that Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, stayed behind in California.
It's not surprising that Harry likely felt a bit squirrelly. The coronation marks the first time he has seen his family since publishing Spare," his bombshell memoir that painted a less than flattering portrait of the royal family, both as an institution and as individuals.
Certainly, Harry was noticeably uncomfortable as he arrived at Westminster Abbey for the coronation service. Walking into the church, he was seen joking with his cousins, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and their husbands, although it felt more awkward laughter than easy, breezy mirth. (According to a lip reader enlisted by Hello!, he told Jack Brooksbank, Eugenie's husband, I will be straight to the airport.")
As Harry walked up the aisle at Westminister Abbey, he cut a solitary figure between the two couples. Meghan's absence was palpable. He sat in the third row alongside his cousins. It wasn't quite social Siberia - he had a better seat than many of the attending foreign royals -but he certainly wasn't seated in the front row alongside his brother, Prince William, occupying prime position alongside Kate, the Princess of Wales, and their children.
Technically, Harry's spot at the coronation was less a snub, more an egalitarian adhering to protocol: working royals got the best seats, and then everyone else (including the retired" Prince Andrew) were seated behind them in a rough order of seniority. It's still a far cry from where Harry, in an alternate universe where he didn't break from his family quite so acrimoniously, may have been sitting. He may have even joined his brother in paying formal homage to their father during the coronation ceremony.
There's something else that speaks to Harry's effective demotion: He was wearing a somber morning suit rather than a military uniform. If you've been following this saga, you'll know this has been a past bone of contention. When he quit his job as a royal, Harry also lost the various honorary military titles which entitled him to wear a uniform at official events like this. (His brother William, for example, was wearing a Welsh Guards uniform because he is their Colonel.) For Harry, who served on active military duty, this has been a particularly painful - and, in his view - unjust consequence of his choice to leave royal life behind.
As the service continued, Harry looked very much like a person going through the motions. (To be fair, so did everyone else. Emoting in public is not very Windsor.) He sang the hymns, he said the pledge of allegiance to Charles, he moved his lips during God Save The King" but he never cracked a smile. Alas, any reaction he might have had was also largely blocked, thanks to a rather majestic feather on Princess Anne's hat.
We certainly didn't see any interaction between him and any of his immediate family, although it did seem like he was looking William's way every now and again, even once the action had processed past to the other side of the abbey.
Before Harry returns to California today, he may have one, possibly two, hurdles: The balcony appearance, if he makes the cut, and a lunch with the family. Then, it's back to Frogmore Cottage - likely for the final time, since he's been asked to give up his UK base by King Charles - and back home to Meghan and California. When will he be back in England? Not soon, we think.