He did hint at his past as a senior royal with the emblem around his neck telegraphing his status as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, an award from the late Queen Elizabeth II for his personal service to the sovereign. On his medal bar, he wore his medals from the Golden, Diamond, and Platinum Jubilees, along with the medal he received for his tour of service in Afghanistan. But didn’t wear any of the ceremonial garb that he might have been entitled to had he not left his royal role. (Though you should note that this did not stop Prince Andrew, who wore the full regalia and blue velvet robe representing the Order of the Garter, despite his “retirement” in Fall 2019.)
He exited the Abbey with Eugenie and Jack, and got into the backseat of a waiting car. His trip to the UK was reportedly supposed to be short, and a return trip to Los Angeles is expected to come soon. Harry traveled to his home country without his wife Meghan Markle, and his two children, Archie and Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor. Archie is celebrating his fourth birthday on Saturday, and a friend of the couple told People that Meghan had planned a “low-key party at home” with her mother Doria Ragland. It is thought that Harry spend last night at Frogmore Cottage, the home that he and Meghan received as a gift from the late queen. They were recently asked to vacate it at the direction of the king.
Saturday’s coronation, the first in 70 years, will enter the history books, where the story of Harry, the prodigal prince who started a new life in Los Angeles, will become one important footnote. Someday—maybe soon, maybe years from now—we may learn more about the conversations that led Harry to agree to make an appearance in the Abbey, but until then, the day looks like an unsteady detente in a still-warring royal family.
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Erin Vanderhoof
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