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

He’s headed home to pull double duty that day, attending not just an important event for his father, but, back home in the U.S., for his son.

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King Charles, Prince Harry
(Image credit: Getty)

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.

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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.” 

Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Prince Archie

(Image credit: Getty)

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. 

Rachel Burchfield
Rachel Burchfield
Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor

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.