Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will likely be "relieved" they're not attending King Charles' first Trooping the Colour this weekend, a royal expert has claimed.
Sources say the couple were invited to the celebrations, which will see the entire Royal Family come together on the Buckingham Palace balcony, but will not be attending.
The couple haven't attended the annual event since quitting their senior roles in 2020, and in the years since their relations with Harry's family have gone from bad to worse following their tell all Netflix show and the Prince's memoir.
With no sign of tensions easing, royal expert and author Tessa Dunlop believes they won't be heartbroken to miss the celebrations.
Speaking to The Mirror, she said: "Prince Harry is not coming to the King's inaugural Trooping of the Colour, when for the first time since 1986 Britain's monarch will be mounted taking the salute," she started.
"Whether Harry was invited or not (probably not – why would you invite someone who was not going to attend?) is a moot point. Harry is no longer a working royal.
"Trooping the Colour is a job for our working royals. The key word there is 'job'. Saturday will see them dressed up and on parade, doing what they do best, providing the military, which depends on its hierarchical structures, with an symbolic figurehead.
"Harry despite his impressive two tours in Afghanistan is now an army veteran like any other ordinary ex-soldier. He has been stripped of his honorary uniform and titles," Tessa added.
"Last year he attended the Trooping of the Colour because his one-time commander-and-chief, the Queen, was celebrating her Platinum Jubilee. But even then he and Meghan cut shadowy civilian figures, seen briefly in a window.
"There was no balcony appearance. Those are days are gone. Will he miss them? I doubt it."
Tessa went on to reference the appearance Harry and Meghan made when they were working royals before the pandemic.
"When the Sussexes made an appearance at Trooping of the Colour as working royals before the pandemic, Harry – never a honorary colonel like his brother – was not accorded a role on horseback.
"We now know that playing second fiddle (Spare) to William chaffed and I suspect he is also relieved that courtesy of his new civilian identity he does not have to cross the Atlantic for yet another ceremonial pit-stop," Tessa says.
"With family tensions unresolved, these days the prince's priority in Britain is his many legal cases. Harry is a changed man – he has opted for America and freedom from an institution over the British royal family and their unique version of duty.
"For fans of the Sussexes in Britain, his absence will be a loss but one we need to get used to."
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