Former Royal Family Employee Explains How Queen Elizabeth ‘Bent Over Backwards’ for Prince Harry and Meghan; But Will King Charles?
It’s been reported that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are invited to King Charles III’s coronation on May 6 as the monarch wants his youngest son and daughter-in-law at the ceremony. However, the Sussexes are undecided at this time if they’ll attend and Harry reportedly wants a summit with his father and brother before making a decision. Multiple outlets have also claimed that the Duke of Sussex laid out specific demands in order for him to consider attending.
Now, a former royal family employee is pointing out how the late Queen Elizabeth II really “bent over backwards” for Harry and his wife, which has some fans wondering if King Charles will do the same now.
Princess Diana’s butler says queen ‘bent over backwards’ for the Sussexes
Paul Burrell was Princess Diana’s butler from 1987 until her tragic death in 1997. He began working for the royal family when he was 18 years old and was one of Queen Elizabeth’s personal footmen before he moved to the late princess’s household.
Having been around the family for as long as he was and seeing how things played out the last few years, Burrell believes that the late monarch “bent over backwards” to try and get the Sussexes to stay in the Firm.
Speaking on behalf of Slingo, Burrell explained: “The queen bent over backwards to accommodate Harry and Meghan. She did so many things which are unprecedented to try and get them to fit into the royal family but in vain because it didn’t seem to be enough.”
The former butler laid out examples of what the queen gave them such as: “A ($2 million) property on the royal estate at Windsor didn’t seem to be enough. Royal titles and jewels didn’t seem to be enough. To bend over backwards and to take Meghan on her first engagement to Chester wasn’t enough. To offer Meghan the chance at having Sophie Wessex to mentor her on her royal programs weren’t enough, to say to Meghan ‘you can continue acting if you like, if that’s what you want,’ wasn’t enough.
“Nothing seem[ed] to have been enough to make them want to stay, so I think to myself you can try all you like, if they were so minded to leave the royal family, which they were, nothing was going to persuade them to stay.”
Will King Charles bend over backward for Prince Harry and Meghan as well?
This begs the question if the new monarch will do the same as his mother and bend every which way to satisfy Harry enough to get him and Meghan to attend the coronation.
Several reports previously claimed that the king was willing to bend for his youngest son and seat the Sussexes in high-profile positions at the ceremony despite the fact that they are longer working royals. However, those reports were never confirmed and several sources have said that Harry still has not heard anything or spoken directly to the king or anyone from his family.
According to Express, “If they do attend, Meghan and Harry won’t play any role during the coronation, as they are no longer full-time working royals. In accordance with their status of minor members of the Firm, they should also be seated in a less relevant position than the Prince and Princess of Wales and other working royals. Officials will be working carefully at the seating plan in order to reduce the chance of Prince William and Harry being seen in public together during the ceremony.”
