For the second year in a row, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry haven’t been invited to the Trooping the Colour later this month.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be absent from the military procession this year as they were in 2023 following King Charles III’s coronation, People magazine confirmed.
Trooping the Colour is an annual parade that has marked the sitting monarch’s official birthday celebration for more than 260 years.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were last part of the parade in 2019, a year after their wedding, and last attended it in 2022, when they flew back to London for Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee celebration.
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Trooping the Colour in 2019. (Samir Hussein/Samir Hussein/WireImage)
The queen died three months later, and while Prince Harry attended his father’s coronation in May of last year (without the duchess), they missed Trooping the Colour just a month later.
Charles rode horseback for his first Trooping the Colour as monarch in 2023 alongside Prince William, while Queen Camilla and Kate Middleton waved to the crowds from a carriage.
This year, the Princess of Wales, who is the colonel-in-chief of the Irish Guards, will not take the traditional salute at the Colonel’s review, which is part of the parade due to her treatment for cancer, which she revealed in March.
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King Charles III rides horseback alongside Prince William at last year’s Trooping the Colour. (Neil Mockford/Getty Images)
Kinsey Schofield, host of the “To Di For Daily” podcast, told Fox News Digital last week that the mother of three will likely not attend the parade.
“King Charles and Prince William have repeatedly stressed to the Princess of Wales that she should feel no pressure to return to public duty until she is ready,” Schofield said.
Although the princess could appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the parade.
Queen Camilla and the Princess of Wales rode in a carriage together for Trooping the Colour last year. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
Christopher Andersen, author of “The King: The Life of Charles III,” told Fox News Digital that an appearance on the balcony would be reassuring to the public.
“The Princess of Wales knows better than anyone what message it would send if she were absent, so I think she’ll make that gesture if it’s at all possible,” said Andersen. “Unfortunately, at the moment. It appears that she may not be physically up to the challenge. Whether Kate appears or doesn’t, that is bound to be an emotionally charged moment for everyone. … She’s soldiering on, making the best of it.”
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Charles, who is also undergoing treatment for cancer, plans to ride in a horsedrawn carriage this year instead of on horseback, according to People.
The royal family waves from the balcony of Buckingham Palace without Prince Harry and Meghan Markle following last year’s Trooping the Colour. (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
Last month, Harry returned to London to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, which he founded in 2014, but it was announced that Charles would not have time to meet with him.
While none of the royal family attended a thanksgiving service for the games at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer who was Princess Diana’s younger brother, was there.
Harry and Charles last met briefly in February after the king announced his cancer diagnosis.
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Harry’s relationship has grown increasingly strained since he and Markle stepped down as senior royals in 2020, eventually moving their family to California.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Buckingham Palace and Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation for comment.
