Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Are Apparently Making Major Demands in Order to Confirm Their Attendance at the Coronation

(Image credit: Getty)

published 19 March 2023

Is this an invitation to a family event or a well-brokered business deal? It’s getting more and more difficult to tell as negotiations apparently continue between the Palace and the Sussexes, whose demands to attend King Charles’ Coronation in six weeks are sparking chaos, multiple outlets report.

Marie Claire reported recently that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been invited to the Coronation—whether they’ll attend or not remains unclear. According to The Sun, the couple have issued new requests in order to confirm their attendance: First off, they want their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, to be included (so far, we reported recently, they’re not invited), and they want the entire Sussex family of four to appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony alongside the rest of the royal family after the May 6 Coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey. (For comparison’s sake, during the Platinum Jubilee last summer, Harry and Meghan, though in attendance, did not appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony; that was reserved for working members of the royal family. Harry and Meghan stepped back from those duties in January 2020. Just in case you forgot.)

“The Palace are trying to wrap up negotiations as quickly as possible because they can’t go right up to the wire,” a source tells OK. “It could lead to chaos. It could very well be that it ends in stalemate, and they won’t attend. But the Palace is doing everything in its power to not let that happen.”

May 6 also happens to be Archie’s fourth birthday, and the source says “they would like some kind of nod to that at a lunch or drinks reception. Even if it’s just a happy birthday mention.”

The Daily Express reports that Harry and Meghan are “refusing to accept the invitation to the historic event until their requests are agreed to.”

Will the Palace budge?

Rachel Burchfield is a writer whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family. In addition to serving as the royal editor at Marie Claire, she has worked with publications like Vogue, Vanity Fair, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, and more. She cohosts Podcast Royal, a show that provides candid commentary on the biggest royal family headlines and offers segments on fashion, beauty, health and wellness, and lifestyle.