NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n
For the third year in a row<\/a>, Meghan Markle<\/a> and Prince Harry<\/a> have not been invited to Trooping the Colour \u2014 King Charles<\/a>‘ official birthday celebration and one of the royal family’s most high-profile annual events \u2014 set to take place this Saturday, June 14.\n<\/p>\n The decision continues a pattern set after Charles became monarch in 2022. The last time Harry and Meghan attended<\/a> Trooping was during Queen Elizabeth<\/a>‘s Platinum Jubilee in June 2022 \u2014 where they were noticeably kept out of the public spotlight, watching the parade from a separate room alongside other non-working royals and not joining the traditional balcony appearance.\n<\/p>\n Their ongoing absence comes as the family rift deepens. The Duke of Sussex, 40, recently lost a legal bid to reinstate his state-funded security in the U.K. and admitted in a BBC interview last month that he cannot envision bringing his wife and their two children \u2014 Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4 \u2014 back to Britain under the current circumstances.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the U.K. at this point,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n The lack of an invitation to Trooping follows a series of strained moments between father and son \u2014 including Harry\u2019s statement that King Charles is not currently speaking to him. Despite the silence, Harry has continued to express hope for a reunion.<\/p>\n Royals on the balcony at Trooping the Colour on June 15, 2024.<\/p>\n Chris Jackson\/Getty\u00a0<\/p>\n “I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” he told the BBC.\n<\/p>\n “Life is precious. I don’t know how much longer my father has,” he continued. “He won’t speak to me because of this security stuff, but it would be nice to reconcile.”\n<\/p>\n Meghan, 42, had been scheduled to attend a museum gala in Los Angeles on the same day as Trooping, before the event was canceled earlier this week amid ongoing protests in the city.\n<\/p>\n PEOPLE confirmed that the King, 76, will travel by carriage at Trooping the Colour for the second year in a row<\/a> (instead of riding on horseback) as his treatment for cancer continues<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton and Queen Camilla at Trooping the Colour on June 8, 2019.<\/p>\n James Devaney\/Getty<\/p>\n The Duke and Duchess of Sussex joined the Trooping the Colour celebrations twice as a couple following their 2018 wedding, riding in the royal carriage procession and making balcony appearances at Buckingham Palace in both 2018 and 2019.\n<\/p>\n Like most large-scale events, Trooping was significantly scaled down in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID pandemic. The tradition was brought back in 2022, but the royal event is one that Harry and Meghan’s children Prince Archie<\/a> and Princess Lilibet<\/a> have never attended.\n<\/p>\n Prince Archie<\/a>, 6, was just a few weeks old when his parents went to Trooping in June 2019. Meanwhile, his sister Princess Lilibet<\/a>, 4, was born in California in June 2021 after Harry and Meghan stepped back from royal duties.\n<\/p>\n Both Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet traveled with their parents to the U.K. in June 2022 for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations commemorating Queen Elizabeth’s record 70-year reign. The Queen likely met Lilibet, who was named after the monarch’s childhood nickname<\/a>, during that trip, which doubled as Harry and Meghan’s only trip to the U.K. with their kids after stepping back from their royal roles.\n<\/p>\n A photo of Prince Harry, Princess Lilibet, Meghan Markle and Prince Archie from the docuseries \u201cHarry & Meghan\u201d on Netflix. It’s understood that a sticking point in the rift between Harry and King Charles is the issue of automatic state-funded security while in the U.K. Prince Harry maintains that this essential protection was unfairly stripped when he and his wife stepped back in 2020, and a judge dismissed his latest legal appeal to restore this security<\/a> on May 2.\n<\/p>\n
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