Prince Harry was reportedly spotted “fighting back tears” when he was shunted aside during the Commonwealth Day Service back in 2020.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s last official engagement before their exit was the Commonwealth Day Service in March 2020, during which the strained royal relations were evident, a royal author explained.
Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles and Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William and Kate, then Duchess of Cambridge, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had all assembled at the Abbey to celebrate the people and cultures of the 56 Commonwealth nations which span Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific.
Robert Lacey, author of Battle of Brothers, claimed the Sussexes were expecting to filter into the Abbey behind the Queen, Charles and William in recognition of their status within the family, despite the fact they had quit.
He cited claims that the decision to leave them out left Harry “fighting back tears”.
In his book, he alleged: “In 2018 and 2019, Harry and Meghan had walked down the aisle in the main procession. But, in 2020, they were being shunted aside on their final appearance as working royals in Britain.”
He continued: “As now glaringly ‘junior’ members of the family, the Sussexes would simply have to shuffle their way to their seats and take their place on the sidelines. The subservience of a ‘spare’ could not have been more strikingly illustrated.”
The previous year, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had joined the Queen’s official procession into the church. However, during the time at Commonwealth Day, they were directed to their seats before Her Majesty made her entrance.
Before the ceremony, 2,000 orders of service had been distributed detailing that William and Kate would enter the Abbey with the main royal party.
However, there was no mention of Harry and Meghan being in the procession, with the Daily Mail reporting the couple was “quite sensitive and emotional about it”.
This reportedly led to William and Kate not walking in the procession in an attempt to resolve the issue – despite the orders of service stating otherwise.
The duke later shared how he felt at the service in his and Meghan’s controversial Netflix series released at the end of 2022.
