Prince Harry Was Furious After Request for More Prominent Role at Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Was Denied, According to Royal Biographer
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle traveled to the U.K. in early June for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. The couple attended two events but did not have a prominent role in those. However, according to a new royal biography that went against the Duke of Sussex‘s wishes and he was furious that his request for a bigger role in the celebration was rejected.
Prince Harry and Meghan were not permitted to appear alongside the working royals
In his new book Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors, veteran journalist Tom Bower claims that Harry wasn’t pleased when he found out he and Meghan would be shunned from the royal balcony and wouldn’t have any major role in the jubilee festivities.
Before the Sussexes even arrived in England it had already been announced that they would not be permitted to stand on the balcony with the working royals.
“After careful consideration, the queen has decided this year’s traditional Trooping the Colour balcony appearance on Thursday, 2 June, will be limited to Her Majesty, and those members of the royal family who are currently undertaking official public duties on behalf of the queen,” a statement from Buckingham Palace read.
However, Bower said that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex wanted to appear alongside the monarch on Buckingham Palace’s balcony during the celebrations and Harry made that known by asking “the queen’s resistant advisers.”
Prince Harry’s plea for prominent role in Jubilee was rejected
When the prince’s request was denied he arranged a visit with his grandmother to ask her directly.
In an extract from Bower’s book serialized by The Times, the author wrote: “The obstacles for Meghan and Harry to appear centre-stage were considerable — not least because their presence was opposed by Charles. Charles preferred that the Sussexes, as private citizens, were not invited onto the balcony or to ride in a royal carriage. Instead, they would be confined to the VIP enclosures. In Meghan’s view, those optics were unsatisfactory partly because her value to Netflix was to stand near the queen.”
Bower added that Harry “asked if he could visit [the queen] in Windsor on his way to the Netherlands for the Invictus Games. To secure her agreement, Harry appeared to give the impression that the meeting would offer an ‘olive branch’ to ‘clear the air’. At the last moment, keen to see her grandson and instinctively forgiving of Meghan, the queen agreed to meet the couple on April 14.”
Following that meeting though the Sussexes’ issue of appearing on the balcony remained “unresolved.” Bower added: “Festering was their fury that the Palace had refused all of their demands for a prominent role at the Jubilee in return for returning to Britain with their children. Harry could not resist venting his anger to an American NBC TV reporter.” In the interview on NBC’s Today show, the duke sparked a backlash for saying he wanted to make sure the monarch was “protected” and had the “right people around her.”
“Within those few minutes on television Harry had demonstrated the danger of his appearance at the Jubilee celebrations,” Bower said. “Everything was about himself and Meghan.”
The Sussexes’ demotion was on full display
During the Sussexes’ brief time back in the U.K., their demotion since stepping down as senior royals was hard to ignore.
Inside the church for the National Service of Thanksgiving, they were seated on the opposite side of the cathedral from Harry’s father and brother. Moreover, they were relegated to the second row behind lesser-known royals like the Wessexes and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.
Outside the church, Meghan and Harry received a mixed reaction of cheers and boos from the crowd.
