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Prince Harry is ‘on the horns of a dilemma’ when it comes to whether or not he should attend the Coronation of King Charles, according to a royal expert.
Nigel Cawthorne, author of Prince Andrew, Maxwell and the Palace, said that whether the Duke of Sussex, 38, attends the May 6 event or not, he will face scrutiny.
According to reports, Buckingham Palace is making plans for Harry and Meghan to attend the King’s Coronation, with staff organising logistics for the historic occasion instructed to include the Sussexes in their plans.
But tensions within the Firm, not only between Prince Harry and the rest of the royals, but also with Prince Andrew, have left the King in ‘an impossible position’, according to Nigel.
He said: ‘There is a battle royal going on here. It’s tit for tat. Certainly tat. With the flawless Queen gone, the monarchy is looking a bit threadbare.
Prince Harry (pictured while appearing on The Late Show earlier this year) is ‘on the horns of a dilemma’ over whether to attend his father’s Coronation, according to a royal author
‘Charles is in an impossible position. If either Andrew or Harry, or both, turn up, they are going to besmirch the coronation and take the spotlight away from him.
‘Their absence will be equally headline-grabbing and will diminish the significance of the ceremony.’
He continued: ‘The coronation is the key moment in the monarchy, but the top royals can’t be bothered to turn up. Imagine a wedding or funeral where a brother or son is a no-show. It speaks volumes.’
Speaking specifically about the monarch’s youngest son, Nigel said: ‘Harry’s on the horns of a dilemma too.
‘How unpopular does he want to be? Every time he opens his mouth he plummets in the opinion polls. He’s the royal family’s Eddie the Eagle.
‘If he turns up, he risks having rotten tomatoes throw at him. If he stays away, he’s turning his back on [the Royal Family]. Only, by the way, my son and daughter are a prince and princess.’
His comments follow the news that Harry and Meghan have revealed they have started calling their children Archie and Lilibet prince and princess after secretly christening their daughter in California.
The Sussexes held an Anglican ceremony at their Montecito mansion for between 20 and 30 friends including her billionaire godfather Tyler Perry earlier this month.
Meanwhile, King Charles (pictured at a Buckingham Palace ceremony this week) is in ‘an impossible position’ according to royal author Nigel Cawthorne, thanks to family tensions
Harry and Meghan invited King Charles, Queen Consort Camilla and the Prince and Princess of Wales to the California ceremony last Friday but they declined, a source close to the couple told People magazine. It is not known when the British royals were asked to attend – or how any invite was sent to the UK.
The Court Circular – Britain’s official record of royal engagements – reveals that none of the senior royals apart from Princess Anne attended events on the day of the christening.
A statement by the Sussexes’ referred to the 21-month-old as ‘Princess Lilibet Diana’ – revealing for the first time that the couple has decided to invoke their right to use ‘Princess’ for Lilibet, six months since the accession to the throne of King Charles last September. Archie will be called prince.
Harry and Meghan are said to not want to deny their children the chance to inherit royal titles from their father – seeing it as their birthright – but will allow Archie and Lili the chance to decide whether to drop or keep using the royal titles when they are older.
Meghan famously told Oprah Winfrey that Archie was not given the title of prince because of his race, but this was disputed by the palace and constitutional experts.
However, when Archie was born seventh in line to the throne to the then Queen in May 2019, he was too far down the line of succession.
Rules dictate that although he was a great-grandchild of the monarch, he was not a first-born son of a future king, so was not automatically a prince.
An insider claimed that 21-month-old Lili’s title of princess and Archie’s title as a prince will be used in formal settings – but not in everyday conversational use by the couple.
And the monarch will not stand in their way, Buckingham Palace has revealed, adding the Royal Family’s official website has now been updated to call the children Princess Lilibet and Prince Archie. It previously referred to Lilibet as ‘Miss Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor’ and her brother as ‘Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor’.
The comments follow news that the Sussexes’ daughter Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor (pictured in June last year) was recently christened in Montecito
Title rules set out by King George V in 1917 mean Archie and Lili, as the children of a son of a sovereign, automatically became a prince and a princess when Charles became King.
They would also be entitled to an HRH style, but although Harry and Meghan retain their HRH styles, they no longer use them after quitting the working monarchy.
It was previously reported in 2021 that Charles, in a bid to limit the number of key royals, intended, when he became monarch, to prevent Archie becoming a prince.
To do so, he would have to issue a Letters Patent amending Archie’s right to be a prince and Lili’s right to be a princess.
Lili was baptised by the Anglican Bishop of Los Angeles, John Taylor. Afterwards guests and family including Doria Ragland danced to a playlist containing songs from Harry and Meghan’s wedding reception at Windsor Castle. A gospel choir also reportedly performed Oh Happy Day and This Little Light of Mine.
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