The invitation to the Coronation is reportedly on its way to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and it will ultimately be up to the couple to attend. Prior to the “Will they or won’t they?” push/pull around the Coronation, the same thing happened with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June, during which they eventually flew into the UK from their home in the U.S.
This time, though, there is considerably more tension than last summer, which came after the December release of Netflix’s Harry & Meghan and, notably, the January publishing of Harry’s tell-all, Spare, which took multiple swipes at the royal family.
Add to it the fact that the Coronation, which is slated for May 6 at Westminster Abbey in London, also coincides with the fourth birthday of Harry and Meghan’s son, Archie, and, in a word? It’s difficult. But it appears like both sides want this family feud to stop, and according to The Daily Express, for Harry and Meghan, it will require a royal family capitulation and apology to resolve the drama once and for all.
“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex accused royal aides of actively working against them and refusing to counter negative press coverage about them,” the outlet reports. “The couple is now expected to return to the U.K. and attend the King’s Coronation, but speculation is rife about the state of their relationship with the family.”
An insider says, “the problem is that [the Sussexes] want a capitulation and apology by the Palace, but when ‘recollections vary,’ that’s quite difficult.” In interviews leading up to the release of Spare, Harry has specifically asked the royal family to apologize to Meghan for the treatment she experienced when she married into the institution in May 2018.
“It was all so avoidable, but they just couldn’t help themselves,” Harry said, adding that the royal family treated him as if he were “delusional and paranoid.” He continued, “You know what you did, and I now know why you did it. And you’ve been caught out, so just come clean.”
According to royal historian Robert Lacey, the rift may take some time to heal, but Harry and Meghan’s actions at the Platinum Jubilee and Her late Majesty’s funeral showed that the Sussexes were able to lay aside any drama to present a united front with the royal family when needed.
“It’s almost insulting to ask, ‘When are they going to kiss and make up?’” Lacey tells People, per The Daily Express. “There have been some very grave disagreements between them. But the Platinum Jubilee and the funerals of the Queen and Prince Philip did demonstrate that they could put personal enmity aside for the sake of the bigger cause. And that is what the Coronation will be all about.”
Royal expert Robert Jobson says that, despite the rumor mill churning that King Charles has called in the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby to broker peace talks between members of the family and the Sussexes, “there has not been much connection,” Jobson says. “Even that Welby stuff is wide of the mark. There’s a lot of guesswork going on. My understanding is that there’s been no real contact whatsoever, so I don’t know where a lot of people are getting it from. I’m told that it’s not the case.”
Jobson says that peace talks might not happen until after the Coronation, as “the last thing they’ll want to be doing is having all sorts of reconciliation talks in the middle of a Coronation. The world doesn’t revolve around Meghan and Harry, even if they think it does. They’re focused on state visits to Germany and France, and then the Coronation.”