The Real Reason Meghan Markle Decided Not to Go to King Charles' Coronation: ‘It's Become So Personal’
There’s more to the story of Meghan Markle choosing to skip King Charles’ coronation beyond just her wanting to stay in California to celebrate her and Prince Harry’s son Archie’s fourth birthday, which is on the same day. People spoke to multiple sources about Harry going to the ceremony without Meghan—and they made it clear that the rift between Harry, Meghan, and the royal family played a bigger role in the couple’s decision than initially reported.
Harry and Meghan have had no private wider reconciliation with the family, a close friend told People, although Charles is “pleased” Harry is attending.
“At this point, it’s become so personal,” the friend said. “Maybe what they wanted wasn’t achieved, but at the end of the day, he’s going there to support his dad.”
With Meghan’s decision particularly, “Meghan wants to be there to support her father-in-law, but at the same time, the scrutiny she receives outweighs the support,” the close friend said. “There’s always going to be that other side challenging their reasoning, and who wants to put themselves in that position?”
A palace insider described the relationship between Harry, Meghan, and his family as still “strained.” Recent history supports that.
Harry didn’t see his brother or father when he went to London in late March to testify in a case against the Daily Mail‘s publishers. Harry claimed in his witness statement that the royals withheld information about The Sun hacking his phone and that he was generally troubled by their “never complain, never explain” approach with the tabloids. Charles was deeply sadden by his son’s allegations, People reported today.
Earlier, Meghan and Harry were “left stunned” by Charles’ decision in early March to evict them from Frogmore Cottage, sources told royal reporter Omid Scobie for Yahoo! UK.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex losing that property means they also lose one of their safest spaces in the UK, as the house is on the Queen’s Windsor estate, which is protected by the Met’s Royalty and Specialist Protection Unit.
Harry has been in court, fighting for his right to pay for royal protection officers while in the UK, a taxpayer-funded privilege for working royals. Harry and Meghan lost that security when they stepped back from their senior working royal family roles in 2020.
Harry and Meghan also released their Netflix documentary series, Harry & Meghan (in December) and Harry’s memoir Spare (in January), where the couple spoke candidly about their experience with the royal family and why they had stepped back from their roles. The palace never gave any comment publicly on Harry and Meghan’s series or memoir, but privately, sources made it clear the royal family wasn’t pleased.
Harry spoke to Anderson Cooper in January about why he and Meghan told all about their experience publicly. It had been a last resort: “Every single time I’ve tried to do it privately there have been briefings and leakings and planting of stories against me and my wife,” Harry said. “You know, the family motto is never complain, never explain. But it’s just a motto.”
He added, “So now, trying to speak a language that perhaps they understand, I will sit here and speak truth to you with the words that come out of my mouth, rather than using someone else, an unnamed source, to feed in lies or a narrative to a tabloid media that literally radicalizes its readers to then potentially cause harm to my family, my wife, my kids.”
Senior News and Strategy Editor
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.
