On Saturday, King Charles III was officially crowned as the
monarch of England in a grand
coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey.
Buckingham Palace had previously announced that Prince Harry, the youngest son
of the new king, would attend the event while his wife Meghan and their two
children would remain in California.
However, when official photos from the coronation were released
on Monday, Prince Harry was noticeably absent from the group shot taken at
Buckingham Palace. The photo included working members of the royal family and
was taken by renowned British photographer Hugo Burnand.
In the portrait, King Charles III and his wife Camilla, the
Duchess of Cornwall, were in the center of the frame. Standing beside them was
Princess Anne, the king’s sister, and her husband, Timothy Laurence. On the
other side of the monarch were Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duke and
Duchess of Cambridge, who will eventually become the Prince and Princess of
Wales.
Other members of the royal family in the photo included the Duke
and Duchess of Kent, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, Princess Alexandra,
and Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex. Notably missing from the portrait were
Prince Harry, his children Archie and Lilibet, and several of the younger
members of the family, including Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince
Louis.
It was later revealed that Prince Harry had returned to
California immediately after the coronation and had missed the photo session
with the rest of the family. Despite being officially listed as attending the
ceremony, he was not included in the feature photos.
The absence of Prince
Harry from the coronation photos fueled rumors of tensions within the royal
family, particularly given the ongoing fallout from his and Meghan’s bombshell
interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier in the year. However, Buckingham Palace
made no official statement on the matter.
