Prince Harry Will Depart the U.K. Just Two Hours After Coronation Ceremony Ends, Reports Say

Yes, Prince Harry is attending his father King Charles’ Coronation on Saturday—but it doesn’t seem he’ll be sticking around for long afterwards. OK reports that Harry will be on a plane home to his adopted home base of Montecito, California just two hours after the ceremony wraps, presumably to be superman and be present for both his father and his son, Prince Archie, who turns four that same day. (That day of transatlantic travel makes this writer exhausted just thinking about it.)

“He’ll be in and out of the U.K. in 24 hours,” an insider says. “He will only be doing the Coronation service, then leaving.”

The ceremony begins at 11 a.m. U.K. time on Saturday, and, as it is set to be shorter than Queen Elizabeth’s 1953 Coronation, should go for no more than two hours. Then, two hours after that, Harry will be in the air—around 3 p.m. London time.

Archie’s birthday is the widely accepted reason why Meghan Markle isn’t attending the Coronation, and “Harry’s going to make every effort to get back in time for Archie’s birthday,” an insider tells Page Six. The same source noted that Harry will fly commercial, not private. “It’s going to be an intimate party.” 

Paul Burrell, who worked for Harry’s mother Princess Diana for over a decade, tells GB News that Harry “is coming to put his foot in the door, and he is coming because his father wants him to be there. His father will be delighted that both his sons will be there to witness this incredible day in his life.”

This will be the first known time that Harry has interacted with the royal family face-to-face since the publication of Spare, his widely read memoir that was critical of both individual members of the royal family and the institution itself.