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TL;DR: 

  • Whether or not Prince Harry appeared to be singing during the national anthem became a topic of debate following Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. 
  • A royal expert said Prince Harry “personified” the “stiff upper lip.” 
  • Prince Harry appeared “completely overtaken by grief” after losing his “only ally” in the royal family. 

Discussions about whether or not Prince Harry sang the national anthem at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral broke out on Sept. 19. To some, it appeared the Duke of Sussex didn’t sing “God Save the King” at Westminster Abbey. Others noticed he joined in at St. George’s Chapel. So, did Harry sing the national anthem? A royal expert says the 38-year-old did his “utmost not to completely break down.” 

Prince Harry ‘couldn’t get the words out’ during the singing of the national anthem

The Duke of Sussex looked to be “absolutely overwhelmed,” Russell Myers, the Daily Mirror’s royal editor, told Today Australia.

“A lot of things have been said about whether Harry was singing the national anthem. It’s quite interesting. I sort of picked my head up and noticed that he was almost grimacing. He was absolutely overwhelmed,” he said. 

“I think he was completely overtaken by grief,” Myers replied when asked what was going on with Harry in that moment. “We talk about the stiff upper lip and that was it personified. He couldn’t get the words out.” 

Myers also noted the royal family’s “packed schedule” in the days leading up to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. 

Prince Harry more than a ‘man who’s lost his grandmother,’ no longer has his ‘only ally’ in the royal family

The royal expert continued, saying he’d initially been “shocked” when it appeared Harry wasn’t singing. Watching the clip back, Myers explained he saw more than a grieving grandson in the Duke of Sussex. 

“I think this is not just a man who’s lost his grandmother,” he told co-anchors Allison Langdon and Karl Stefanovic. “I truly believe he’s lost his only ally in the family.” 

“When you look at it like that, where does he go from here?” Myers added. “Because he must be very nervous about this book coming out because that’s going to cause a whole lot of new problems.”

Announced in July 2021, Harry’s memoir doesn’t have a release date.

Everything came ‘to a head’ as Prince Harry stood in Westminster Abbey

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Playing “devil’s advocate,” Myers shared what he saw while examining footage of Harry in Westminster Abbey. 

“Looking at him in the abbey, he’s a military man,” he said, referencing the decade Harry served in the army. “We talk about the British stiff upper lip. I mean, that was it, right there.” 

“I think he was doing his utmost not to completely break down because you’re back to the pictures of him arriving at Balmoral and he looked absolutely crestfallen,” he added.

Harry had been in the U.K. when the queen’s health began declining. He, and other royals, didn’t get there before her death on Sept. 8. 

“The fact that he wasn’t there to say his last goodbye and I think this is … the emotion is coming back,” Myers said. Additionally, Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, have been away from their children Archie Harrison, 3, and Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, 1. 

Furthermore, “Harry has done an awful lot to damage this family and damage his reputation,” Myers said. “And, unfortunately, it’s probably all coming to a head right now.”

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