Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Aren’t Invited to Trooping the Colour for the Second Year In a Row

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published 5 June 2024

Saturday, June 15 will mark the second Trooping the Colour since King Charles took the throne on September 8, 2022—and, once again, the King’s younger son Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, have not been invited, according to People.

Trooping the Colour is the annual parade celebrating the birthday of the monarch and is held in June every year, even though, for example, Charles’ birthday is in November, and Queen Elizabeth’s was in April. (June was chosen because of the generally favorable weather in London during that time period—and, you know, it is an outdoor parade.) For the second year in a row, even though his father is on the throne, Harry and Meghan didn’t get the invite, People confirmed.

It’s worth noting that, even though they had stepped back as working members of the royal family, Her late Majesty did invite the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to Trooping the Colour in 2022—what would ultimately be her last birthday parade, and one that was held as part of her Platinum Jubilee festivities celebrating 70 years on the throne.

Harry and Meghan attended their first Trooping the Colour together in 2018, about one month after their wedding at St. George’s Chapel. They also attended in 2019, less than two months after welcoming their first child, Prince Archie, on May 6 of that year. The event was significantly scaled down in 2020 and 2021 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, and as such was held for Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle without a large gathering of family members.

As previously mentioned, the two attended in 2022, though they did not join the royal family on the Buckingham Palace balcony, as they did in 2018 and 2019 when they were still working royals. “Harry and Meghan watched the festivities, including the military procession down The Mall and the Royal Air Force’s aerial display over London, from a room above Horse Guards Parade along with other non-working royals,” People reports.

It is unclear, if Harry and Meghan would have been invited, if they would have attended, as they live an ocean away from the U.K. in California, and, if you haven’t heard, relations continue to be more than a bit frosty between them and the rest of the royal family right now.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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