PRINCE Harry and Meghan Markle have been excluded from a royal event for the second year running.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have not been invited to the Trooping the Colour ceremony on June 15 this year.
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Harry and Meghan at the prestigious event in 2019Credit: Getty
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The pair have been missed off the guest list two years runningCredit: Getty
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The duke and duchess last attended the event in 2022 and stood with other non-working royalsCredit: Getty
It marks the second time the pair, who moved to California and stepped down as senior working royals in 2020, have been shunned from the occasion.
The late Queen used to invite the extended Royal Family onto the balcony for Trooping the Colour – but last year, that was changed so only working royals are now allowed, meaning no place for Harry, Meghan or Prince Andrew.
After relocating across the pond four years ago, the couple have launched a barrage of vile attacks against the Royal Family through their unpopular personal projects.
Several accusations were thrown in their Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, as well as in the duke’s sensational memoir Spare.
The bitter feud has seen Harry estranged from his family, including on his most recent UK trip to mark the 10th anniversary of his Invictus Games.
Despite being just a few miles from his father, the King’s schedule was “too busy” to accommodate a meeting with his son.
While other royal sources claimed the duke had made no effort to see His Majesty – and turned down an invite to stay at a royal residence.
Before the intense royal rift was sparked, Harry and Meg first joined the royal family at the Trooping the Colour in 2018 after their Windsor wedding.
The couple were then present at the event, which marks King Charles’ official birthday, in 2019 after the birth of son Archie.
After sending shock waves around the globe during Megxit, the duke and duchess were relegated to to a viewing room above Horse Guards Parade to watch the procession unfold in 2022.
They stood with other non-working royals to celebrate the occasion, which also honoured Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee.
‘BUILD SOME BRIDGES’
But Harry and Meghan were not invited the following year, and have been missed off the guest list once again in 2024.
The couple need to stop “slagging off the royal family” and start building bridges if they wish to attend in the future, claimed one royal author.
Phil Dampier said on The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show the Sussexes should “try to build some bridges” after criticising the royals.
The author said: “They’ve got new PR people and if they listen to their PR people – sometimes people don’t listen to their PR people – but if they listen to their PR people, I’m sure they’re telling them that right, you’ve made your point, you’ve had Spare, you’ve had Netflix, you’ve had the Oprah Winfrey interview, you’ve got it all off your chest.
A timeline of Prince Harry and William’s ‘feud’: Brothers ‘at war’
In 2018, the Sun told how “simmering tension” began when William questioned the speed of Harry and Meghan’s engagement.
The first hints of friction reportedly came after William was introduced to Meghan when she was staying at Kensington Palace.
Once she’d returned home to Canada, William and Harry sat down for a brother-to-brother chat.
He knew Harry was already head-over-heels for her but it has been claimed he advised him to take it slowly.
The younger prince reportedly didn’t take too kindly to the advice, with one royal source saying he “went mental”.
Then in June 2019 Harry and Meghan officially split off from the charity they shared with William and Kate.
The Royal Foundation will be divided between the Sussexes and Cambridges as the couples focus on their own separate charitable endeavours.
Prince William and Prince Harry first established the Royal Foundation in 2009 before Kate joined two years later shortly after their engagement was announced.
The trio would often appear together at events and the Foundation had huge successes with projects like the Invictus Games for injured veterans and the mental health Heads Together campaign.
The Royal Foundation said the decision was made following the conclusion of a review into its structure – but added both couples will continue to work together in the future.
Harry and Meg were living in close proximity to Kate and Wills within the Kensington Palace estate, but they switched to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor before baby Archie was born.
The move further increased rumours of a fallout.
Harry, 39, also hinted in his ITV documentary “Harry and Meghan, An African Journey” that he and his brother had grown apart.
It came after Prince Philip called Meghan the “D.O.W” after the Duchess of Windsor — the American divorcee who led Edward VIII to abdicate.
And he warned the late Queen to be “cautious” of Harry’s then bride-to-be, a royal author claims.
Ingrid Seward revealed in new book My Mother And I that Prince Philip felt it was “uncanny…how much Meghan reminded him of the Duchess of Windsor”.
In 2021, Harry and Meghan give their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey where Harry accused his dad of cutting him off financially.
Harry then jetted back to UK to join William in unveiling a statue to their mother Princess Diana in the grounds of Kensington Palace. But sources claimed William didn’t want to attend the memorial amid their ongoing rift.
In 2022, just before their grandmother the Queen died, sources claimed Kate acts as a “peacemaker” between the brothers.
Last year Harry claimed his brother “knocked him to the floor” during an argument about Meghan.
In his book Spare, Harry said William branded Meghan “rude” and “difficult” during a row.
Harry alleged William “grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and … knocked me to the floor”.
He said he was left with a visible injury to his back following the argument in 2019 at Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace, where he was living at the time.
In January this year, Harry flew in to be with Charles after the monarch’s shock cancer diagnosis.
Harry flew back to the US the following day – without seeing Wills.
“Now’s the time to row back a bit and try and try and build some bridges or at least create a life for yourself.”
Phil, who is the author of Royally Suited: Harry and Meghan in their own words, claimed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s three-day Nigeria tour was a way for them to try to achieve that.
He added: “Obviously the Nigeria trip they were trying to do that, the jury’s out as to whether that was a good idea.”
TROOPING THE COLOUR
It comes after doubts were cast over what Trooping the Colour would look like this year.
The Monarch’s cancer diagnosis left a question mark over his attendance.
Speculation was also rampant after His Majesty and Prince William canceled royal engagements amid Rishi Sunak’s general election announcement last month.
However, it has been confirmed the famous ceremony will go ahead as planned, with King Charles present.
Megxit timeline
November 2016 – Harry formally reveals he is in a relationship with Suits actress Meghan Markle.
September 2017 – Meghan tells Vanity Fair the couple are in love and happy together.
September 2017 – The couple make their first public appearance together holding hands at the Invictus Games in Toronto.
November 2017 – Prince Charles issues a statement revealing Harry and Meghan are engaged.
May 2018 – Harry and Meghan tie the knot, becoming Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
October 2018 – The couple announce they are expecting their first child while on their first overseas tour in Australia.
March 2019 – Harry and Meghan set up their own household, splitting their joint operation with Prince William and Kate.
May 2019 – Meghan gives birth to a baby boy named Archie.
October 2019 – Harry reveals his rift with his brother William in a bombshell documentary.
January 2020 – The couple stun the Queen by announcing plans to quit senior roles and settle in North America. After ten days of talks at Sandringham, it’s agreed the couple will no longer be working royals and will give up their “Royal Highness” titles.
March 2020 – Harry and Meghan carry out their last official engagement and move to California.
September 2020 – Netflix announces a huge deal with the couple.
February 2021 – Buckingham Palace announces the couple’s split as working members of the monarchy is permanent and they will lose their royal patronages.
March 2021 – The palace says it is “very concerned” about allegations of bullying made by former staff of Harry and Meghan, launching a probe.
March 2021 – Meghan tells Oprah Winfrey Archie wasn’t made a prince after “concerns and conversations” about “how dark” his skin would be when he was born. She claims Kate “hurt her feelings” and made her cry before her wedding. Harry says Charles has stopped taking his calls and he has been “cut off” financially.
January 2023 – Harry publishes his tell-all memoir Spare, launching scathing attacks on William, Kate and Camilla. He says he and William once got into a physical fight over Meghan.
April 2023 – Harry has a “heart-to-heart” talk with his dad before agreeing to come to the Coronation in London.
September 2023 – Harry rejects an offer to spend the anniversary of the Queen’s death at Balmoral with his father.
February 2024 – Prince Harry flies to the UK to be with his father as royal experts claim their four-year rift could be put aside. They meet for half an hour before Harry flies home. He does not meet William.
The King will travel in a horse-drawn carriage this year rather than rising horseback under advice of doctors.
But, Princess Kate’s attendance is yet to be confirmed amid her own cancer treatment.
It would be the first Trooping the Colour she has been absent from since 2011 when she tied the knot with Wills.
The royal is confirmed to miss the traditional Colonel’s Review on June 8 and Lieutenant General James Bucknall is set to stand in her place.
Prince William today offered an update on his wife’s health as he chatted warmly to veterans after today’s D-Day commemorations.
The Heir joined his father, Queen Camilla and other leaders alongside war heroes in a moving anniversary event in Portsmouth.
King Charles and Wills both paid tribute to the veterans and their families.
Afterwards, William revealed Kate was feeling “better”, adding: “She would’ve loved to be here today.”
This year the Trooping the Colour parade takes place on June 15, 2024.
It will be done by over 1,350 soldiers from the Regiment of the Household Division and the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, including over 300 musicians from the Massed Bands.
A further 250 troops from the Foot Guards with also be reviewed by His Majesty.
