Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have not been invited to this year’s annual Trooping the Colour celebration, scheduled for June 15 in London. This marks the second consecutive year that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be absent from the event, which commemorates the British monarch’s birthday.
PEOPLE magazine has confirmed that Prince Harry, 39, and Meghan Markle, 42, will not be present at the Trooping the Colour ceremony. Their absence this year follows a similar exclusion last year, which was the first time the event took place under the reign of King Charles, Prince Harry’s father. This exclusion highlights the ongoing distance between the couple and the rest of the royal family.
Since stepping back from their roles as working members of the royal family in 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been residing in California. The couple’s decision to step back from royal duties has significantly changed their involvement in traditional royal events.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attended Trooping the Colour together in 2018, shortly after their royal wedding at Windsor Castle. They also attended in 2019, just weeks after welcoming their first child, Prince Archie. However, the event was significantly scaled down in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a smaller ceremony held for Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle without a large gathering of family members.
In 2022, the couple returned to the UK to attend a special Trooping the Colour, which coincided with Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations marking her 70 years on the throne. Despite their presence, Harry and Meghan did not join the royal family on the Buckingham Palace balcony as they had in previous years. Instead, they watched the festivities from a room above Horse Guards Parade with other non-working royals, witnessing the military procession down The Mall and the Royal Air Force’s aerial display over London.
Prince Harry returned to the UK in May to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, an event he founded to support wounded servicemen and women. Despite his visit, he did not reunite with his father, King Charles, due to the monarch’s busy schedule. The last time father and son saw each other was in February when Harry flew to London to meet King Charles amid news of the King’s cancer diagnosis. They had a brief private meeting at Clarence House.
There was some uncertainty about whether Trooping the Colour would proceed as planned this year. King Charles and Prince William had canceled scheduled engagements after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on May 22 that a general election would be held in July. Buckingham Palace stated that the royals would postpone outings to avoid diverting attention from the election campaign. However, on May 29, the Ministry of Defense confirmed that Trooping the Colour would go ahead as scheduled.
Despite undergoing cancer treatment, King Charles will attend the event. Unlike previous years, where he rode on horseback, King Charles will travel in a horse-drawn carriage alongside Queen Camilla. This adaptation reflects the King’s current health situation and ensures his presence at the significant annual celebration.
