Princes Harry and Andrew were seated in the third row of the royal family seating at King Charles III’s coronation but did not join them later Saturday on the Buckingham Palace balcony.
Charles’ younger son Harry and his American wife Meghan stepped off from royal obligations in 2020 and have since launched a scathing attack on the monarchy.
Andrew, the king’s eldest brother, has been barred from entering the country due to his previous involvement with the disgraced late US financier Jeffrey Epstein and a related sexual assault claim that was settled out of court.
However, both Princes Harry, 38, Duke of Sussex, and Andrew, 63, Duke of York, were in the royal lines for the coronation at London’s Westminster Abbey, but without an official invitation.
Andrew was taken from Buckingham Palace to the Abbey in a state car, and the audience in a grandstand in front of the palace booed as he went past.
Harry and Andrew entered the abbey alongside other members of the Windsor family.
It was the first time Harry had seen his family since launching a scathing attack on them in his new memoir “Spare” and a series of media interviews.
Meghan has chosen to stay in California with the couple’s young children, avoiding potentially unpleasant confrontations with her in-laws.
Smiles in the abbey
Former British Army captain Harry, who served in Afghanistan, was dressed in a morning suit with his decorations, while Andrew, who piloted Royal Navy helicopters in the 1982 Falkland Islands War, was dressed in his garter robes.
Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, the husband of Harry’s cousin Princess Beatrice, Andrew’s oldest daughter, was seen speaking with Harry.
After entering the Great West Door, he spoke briefly with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.
In May 2018, Welby wedded Harry and Meghan at Windsor Castle’s St George’s Chapel.
Both Harry and Andrew were seen beaming as they made their way to their seats through the abbey.
They were both placed in the third row, which contradicted their positions in the line of succession to the throne.
Following his brother, Prince William, and William’s three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis of Wales, Harry is fifth in line.
Andrew is the seventh in line to the throne, behind Harry and his children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.
Andrew sat at the end of the row next to Beatrice. Harry sat next to Jack Brooksbank, the husband of Andrew’s younger daughter Princess Eugenie, the cousin who is perhaps Harry’s closest ally in the family.
Balcony no-show
The couple was missing from the horse-drawn procession back to Buckingham Palace, with Harry observed getting into a car to exit the abbey.
Saturday is Archie’s fourth birthday, so Harry appears to have returned to his California home quickly.
He and Andrew did not join the royal family on the Buckingham Palace balcony after the wedding.
Andrew’s connections with Epstein, the prince’s acquaintance Ghislaine Maxwell’s boyfriend, came back to haunt him.
Virginia Giuffre, a US woman, claimed she was coerced to have sex with Andrew when she was 17 after being delivered by Epstein, who was convicted of procuring a child for prostitution in 2008.
Andrew refuted the charges in a November 2019 BBC interview, which was widely panned.
Within days, he stepped down from his patronage, and in May 2020, he resigned from all official duties forever.
The matter was settled out of court in February 2022, with Giuffre receiving a charitable payment and Andrew making no admission of liability.
He took part in events surrounding Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral but, beyond mourning his mother, Charles has shown no sign of allowing Andrew a return to public life.
Also read: Why Meghan Markle won’t attend King Charles’s Coronation
