Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will be missing from Trooping the Colour later this month.
PEOPLE confirms the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have not been invited to this year’s annual celebration of the British monarch’s birthday in London, scheduled for June 15. They were also not invited to the event last year, which marked the first time Trooping the Colour took place during the reign of King Charles, Harry’s father.
Prince Harry, 39, and Meghan, 42, have been living in California since stepping back as working members of the royal family in 2020.
The couple attended Trooping the Colour together in 2018 (one month after their royal wedding at Windsor Castle) and in 2019 (only weeks after welcoming their first child, son Prince Archie). The event was significantly scaled down in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, held for Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle without a large gathering of family members.
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In 2022, Meghan and Prince Harry traveled to the U.K. and attended a special Trooping the Colour coinciding with Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations marking her 70 years on the throne.
However, they did not join the royal family on the Buckingham Palace balcony as in previous years. Harry and Meghan watched the festivities, including the military procession down The Mall and the Royal Air Force’s aerial display over London, from a room above Horse Guards Parade along with other non-working royals.
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Prince Harry most recently returned to his home country in May to celebrate 10 years of the Invictus Games. However, he did not reunite with his father during the visit due to King Charles’ “full” schedule. The father and son did see each other in February when Harry flew from California to London to see the King, 75, amid news of the monarch’s cancer diagnosis. They had a brief private meeting at Clarence House.
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There was some question if Trooping the Colour would go on as planned this year. King Charles and Prince William canceled scheduled engagements after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on May 22 that a general election would be held in July, and Buckingham Palace said the royals would postpone outings “which may appear to divert attention or distract from the election campaign.” However, the Ministry of Defense confirmed on May 29 that Trooping the Colour would go on as scheduled.
It was also confirmed that King Charles will attend the event amid his cancer treatment. Instead of riding on horseback as he did in previous years, he will travel in a horse-drawn carriage alongside Queen Camilla.
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The palace also shared an update on Kate Middleton’s participation in the events surrounding Trooping the Colour amid her own cancer diagnosis. The Princess of Wales, 42, is the honorary colonel of the Irish Guards, which are trooping its flag at the parade this year. However, she will not take the salute at the traditional Colonel’s Review on June 8. Instead, Lieutenant General James Bucknall, a former Commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps and Colonel of the Coldstream Guards, will take the salute.
It remains unclear whether Princess Kate will join the royal family at Trooping the Colour on June 15. She has attended the event every year since marrying Prince William in 2011 except when the event was altered for the coronavirus pandemic.