Meghan Markle's Absence from King Charles' Coronation Intentional, Royal Family Pleased, Expert Suggests
The attendance of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at King Charles' coronation has been a subject of debate for months. With Buckingham Palace confirming Prince Harry's solo attendance, a royal expert has claimed that the royal family ensured Markle would not attend the event.
According to British journalist Tom Bower, the royal family is pleased that Meghan Markle will not be present at King Charles' coronation. Prince Harry will attend the ceremony, while Markle and their two children, Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1, will stay in California.
Bower asserts that the royals established multiple conditions to guarantee Markle's decision to remain at her and Prince Harry's $14 million Montecito mansion. He told Page Six, "everyone's delighted she's not coming," and added:
"They made sure that she wasn't going to come by making sure that she was told she'd have to curtsy three times, that she wouldn't be in the spotlight, that she wouldn't play any part in the whole thing and that if she came, they'd be put in row 54 in the back behind the column."
Bower reiterated his claims during an appearance on GB News with Dan Wootton, stating that Markle, a Californian, did not want to curtsy to Queen Consort Camilla, the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, or Sophie, Countess of Wessex. Bower said:
"Her presence, I thought was never likely because she doesn't want to be in Britain. She doesn't want to be part of the royal family. She's a Californian. She doesn't want to curtsy to the Queen. She never wants to curtsy to Kate or to Sophie that was very important."
Meghan Markle's absence from her husband's side during his father's coronation has led to various speculations. Some have suggested that she might be avoiding the British public to prevent being booed.
Others have claimed that the Sussexes' demands were not met, causing her to stay at home. However, her representative refuted a specific rumor about a letter she sent to King Charles addressing "unconscious bias" within the royal household. This letter was reportedly in response to His Majesty expressing his sadness over the family tension following the Sussexes' interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Markle's representative told People:
"The Duchess of Sussex is going about her life in the present, not thinking about correspondence from two years ago related to conversations from four years ago. Any suggestion otherwise is false and frankly ridiculous. We encourage tabloid media and various royal correspondents to stop the exhausting circus that they alone are creating."