Even the most casual follower of the royal family can't afford to miss this: while Prince Harry will attend his father King Charles' coronation on May 6, Meghan Markle will not, and her two children, Prince Archie (who coincidentally turns 4 on coronation day) and Lilibet chose to remain in California with the princess.

Royal family expert Robert Jobson says that with this decision, Meghan will never again attend a royal event.

According to The Sun, Jobson said, "The good news is that Harry has accepted the invitation and will attend to support his father. It is the most practical thing to do in a difficult situation, and Harry got it right. He will deeply regret not attending the biggest day of his father's life. However, his wife's non-attendance means that he will never again see her at an official or palace function, and that is a shame.

Since stepping down as an active member of the royal family in 2020 and moving from the UK to the US, Meghan has attended the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022 and her funeral in September of that year, but that is all. A friend of the Sussex couple told The Telegraph that Meghan believes that her future lies in the U.S. and, as for the coronation, she did not want to risk her presence "overshadowing the event."

The paper also reported that Harry and Meghan were "worried" about their reception from the British public. Ingrid Sward, an expert on the royal family, told the Mirror that But with a team of helpers, Meghan could use the excuse of Archie's fourth birthday to avoid crossing the Atlantic to be ridiculed by both the royal family and the British public. For her, who makes a big deal over which table she sits at in a restaurant, not being able to sit at the top of the table at the coronation is an outrageous insult."[9

Harry (and Meghan, if she had attended) would not even have been allowed to go out on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the ceremony, which would have embarrassed Meghan, according to Seward.

"This possibility, plus the disgrace of being excluded from the Buckingham Palace balcony lineup, was too much for her to bear," Sward says.

Sward said he believes that Meghan wanted Harry to attend the coronation.

"Harry's decision to come to the coronation without Meghan would not have been an easy one," she says. 'Harry and Meghan are an emotional unity. Harry is unsure without Meghan, and he is skeptical without her by his side. Harry needed and wanted to come to the coronation. The invitation clearly stated 'by order of the King'. Harry was in the army and his allegiance is to the King. The King is also his father. Harry knows that it would be a terrible insult if he did not attend. He may be cut off forever, and the Sussex brand cannot afford to lose its royal fairy dust."

She continued, "I think it was Meghan who was the driving force behind Harry's persuasion. She was smarter than he was and would have realized that if he did not attend, it could mean the end of their future dreams."