On May 8, Prince Harry will make his first appearance in London in months, attending a Thanksgiving service for the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games. Meghan Markle will not be joining him, People reports.
While the exact reason wasn’t disclosed, it is likely similar to why she declined to go to King Charles’ coronation this time last year: to not take attention away from the real focus of the event, and also to take care of their two children, Lili and Archie, in California. People reported that Meghan and Harry are privately celebrating their son’s fifth birthday today before Harry leaves for London.
Meghan will be joining Harry later this month for their trip to Nigeria. The chief of defense staff, the country’s highest-ranking military official, invited them to tour the country.
Meghan has not been in the U.K. since the Queen’s funeral in September 2022. Royal reporter Omid Scobie explained Meghan’s coronation absence to ITV’s This Morning, citing Meghan’s desire to not steal the spotlight from the royal family.
When the news first came out, “people around the Sussexes guided press at the time that this was very much about Archie’s fourth birthday,” Scobie said. “I disagree with that to some extent because I also know from friends of hers that she’s protecting her peace as well. She is aware of how much of the spotlight goes on her when she sets even a foot near the story. And I think a lot of that, although it’s often portrayed as intentional that she wants to steal the spotlight, but in this case, [if] she had simply come over and stood next to her husband, I would imagine the commentary and the narrative on the day would be very different for the days to follow.”
“I would say so [that some members of the family are quite relieved Meghan isn’t going],” he added. “And I would put it down to the fact that so much of the attention then goes on someone who they would rather the attention didn’t go onto. And if you look back at some of Harry and Meghan’s biggest problems, it was all down to the fact that everyone was always talking about them, the attention was always on them at times when it shouldn’t have been.”