Prince Harry, 38, Duke of Sussex, will attend the coronation service at Westminster Abbey in London.
London:
Princes Harry and Andrew will both attend the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday but will have no formal role in the proceedings – confirming they will be out in the cold.
Charles’ younger son Harry and his American wife Meghan stepped down from royal duties in 2020 and have since launched barbed attacks on the monarchy.
Andrew, the King’s eldest brother, has been estranged from his previous relationship with the disgraced late American financier Jeffrey Epstein and a related sexual abuse allegation, which was settled out of court.
Harry, 38, Duke of Sussex, and Andrew, 63, Duke of York, will attend the coronation service at Westminster Abbey in London but will not perform any duties.
The pair will also be absent from the public procession following the ceremony following the gold state coach carrying the newly crowned monarch from the abbey back to Buckingham Palace.
But they can still be seen on the balcony of the palace.
Harry is fifth in line to the throne after his brother Prince William and William’s three children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis of Wales.
Andrew is eighth in line after Harry and his children – Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.
– No allegiance vow –
After finally deciding to part ways, Harry’s every move will be heavily scrutinized. He rejoined his family for the first time after being subjected to a torrent of stinging criticism in his memoir “Spare” and a series of television interviews.
Meghan has been staying in California with the children, to avoid potentially awkward interactions with her in-laws.
At the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, each of the royal dukes paid personal homage and allegiance to the monarch in a public vow of allegiance.
He vowed to be “life and limb, and your false man of worldly worship; and faith and truth I will bear you, to live and die, against all kinds of people. So help me God.”
But this time, only William, the heir to the throne, will speak “words of sincerity” and pay “homage of royal blood,” as the coronation liturgy calls it — saving Harry from having to kneel before his father.
– All eyes on the balcony –
Buckingham Palace has not said whether Harry and Andrew will appear on the palace balcony after the ceremony.
At Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee celebrations last June for her 70 years on the throne, balcony attendance was restricted to working royals only.
But her coronation in 1953 featured several balconies, so Harry and Andrew could potentially be seen in a wider royal family gathering.
Archie’s fourth birthday is on Saturday, so Harry can make a speedy exit to his home in California.
Andrew’s relationship with Epstein – the lover of the prince’s friend Ghislaine Maxwell – came back to haunt him.
An American woman, Virginia Giuffre, said she was pressured into having sex with Andrew when she was 17 following childbirth by Epstein, who was convicted in 2008 of buying a child for prostitution.
Andrew denied the allegations in a BBC interview in November 2019 which nevertheless backfired badly.
Within days, he retracted his patronage and in May 2020 he permanently resigned from all public roles.
The matter was settled out of court in February 2022, with Giuffre accepting a donation to his charity and no admission of liability from Andrew.
Andrew attended the events surrounding Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral but, beyond mourning his mother, Charles showed no sign of allowing him to return to public life.
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