Prince Harry would have ‘regretted’ skipping coronation: ex-royal staffer
Rumors swirled for weeks prior to King Charles’ coronation about whether or not his youngest son, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan Markle, would attend the elegant affair.
In the end, the Duke of Sussex, 38, went to the party solo — sans Markle, 41, who stayed home in California with their two kids.
Colleen Harris, Charles’ former private secretary, has now claimed that Harry would have expressed remorse if he never made an appearance on May 6.
“He would have personally regretted it if he wasn’t there to support his father,” Harris told People recently.
“I am delighted that Prince Harry was there,” added Harris, a public relations officer who was the first black member of the royal household. “Speaking as a mother, [I believe] it was the right thing … and the King [was] delighted.”
Donning a Dior suit and his medals for the crowning at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, Harry took his place in the third row of the centuries-old church.
He sat alongside his cousins, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, and their respective husbands.
Harry’s brother, Prince William, set up camp in the first pew with his wife, Kate Middleton, and their, kids Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte.
The Invictus Games founder only stayed in his homeland for 24 hours, jetting back to Los Angeles right after the ceremony so he wouldn’t miss his son Archie’s fourth birthday.
Before packing up his carry-on bag and heading to his British Airways flight, Harry reportedly spent just a half-hour at Buckingham Palace and didn’t see any members of the royal family after the event.
He also opted to skip out on Sunday’s Coronation Concert — featuring gold-wrapped “Roar” singer Katy Perry and “All Night Long” crooner Lionel Richie — and did not pose for the official enthroning portraits taken at the palace.
The Firm was allegedly confused as to why Harry even attempted to make the trip across the pond at all due to the short duration.
“One makes one’s choices,” a source told Vanity Fair earlier this week. “To be honest, there wasn’t much talk of Harry at all. The focus was very much on the occasion.”
The quick trip reportedly left the family furrowing their brows and wondering “why Harry bothered to come at all.”
A former Markle friend also gave their take on Harry going stag to the ceremony, saying the expedited visit would “backfire terribly.”
“Prince Harry coming to the coronation and dipping his toe in and out, he’ll have a hard job walking away with any pride, he’ll be on one leg as his other foot will be in his mouth,” TV presenter Lizzie Cundy told the Mirror last month.
“He’s only coming to the coronation for a fleeting moment so he can write in his next book or say in his next interview with Meghan, how poorly treated he was by everybody and how his dad didn’t want him. He’s done this to himself,” she continued.
Harry and his family reportedly have had a tense relationship since he dropped his bombshell memoir “Spare” in January.
