Prince Harry let true feelings slip with ‘telling gesture’ towards King Charles at Coronation
It is almost exactly a year since Prince Harry made a flying solo visit to the UK to attend the historic Coronation of his father King Charles – despite their very rocky relationship
Prince Harry at the Coronation
Prince Harry at the Coronation (Image: Getty Images)
Many had wondered whether Prince Harry would be there for his father King Charles on his historic Coronation day.
The historic ceremony at Westminster Abbey took place almost a year to the day and in the lead-up to the service, a question mark hung over Harry and wife Meghan Markle’s attendance. The Coronation came just months after Harry had released his controversial memoir Spare, where he had railed against his royal relatives, including his father and stepmother Queen Camilla.
In the end, Harry decided to attend without Meghan and made a flying visit to the UK from his home in California for the special day. Harry arrived at the Abbey with Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice and their husbands, Jack Brooksbank and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi – but was not seen interacting with Charles nor his estranged older brother Prince William.
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However, according to a royal author, Harry made one very telling gesture to the King as he proceeded out of the Abbey following his crowning. In his book Charles III: New King, New Court, Robert Hardman writes: “As the National Anthem reaches the end of the first verse, the King is alongside the royal pews where the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Edinburgh, both in the front row, plunge into floor-scraping curtseys. All the men bow, including the Duke of Sussex in row three. Indeed, tellingly, he drops his head for longer than most. ”
Next week, Harry is set to return to the UK to attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games. He will be at the service of thanksgiving for the event at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday, May 8.
He is expected to provide a reading at the event, marking a decade since the inaugural Invictus Games London in 2014, founded as a sporting event for injured and sick military personnel and veterans. It will be the first time he has been back in the UK for the first time since his visit to see King Charles after his cancer diagnosis in February, and it is the first major event he has attended in Britain for some time.
The royals at the Coronation last year
The royals at the Coronation last year (Image: AP)
Event organisers say there has been no confirmation of any other royals set to attend, but wife Meghan Markle will not be joining him. The service is scheduled just two days after Harry’s son Archie celebrates his fifth birthday. However, after Harry’s stop-off in London, he and Meghan will then head to Nigeria after being invited by the West African country’s chief of defence staff, who met the Duke in Germany last September at the Invictus Games Dusseldorf.
The Invictus Games was founded as a sporting event for injured and sick military personnel and veterans. The couple will meet service members and their families, and participate in traditional cultural activities, Nigerian media reported. Other details about the visit are not yet known.
Local newspapers reported that Defence Headquarters was ‘honoured’ and ‘delighted’ after Harry and Meghan, who is of Nigerian descent, had accepted the invitation. It will be their first visit to Nigeria as a couple.
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