Time should be up on Harry and Meghan’s coronation decision

Prince William is reportedly 'baffled' by Harry's reluctance to accept his father's coronation invitation and believes his brother is being purposefully 'difficult' by keeping people guessing about his plans.

The big, will-they-or-won’t-they question that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been dangling — their decision on whether to attend King Charles III’s coronation — should be reaching its expiration date.

That’s if the Duke of Sussex’s lawyers were telling the truth in a court filing for one of his multiple, ongoing lawsuits. Harry’s lawyers complained about a request from the British Home Office that he give 28 days notice for any visit to the U.K., so that his security needs can be properly assessed, The Telegraph reported last month.

The coronation for Harry’s estranged father is May 6. If that 28-day requirement is still in place,  Harry should tell the Home Office by this Saturday, whether he’ll be attending. That’s so that RAVEC, the police and government committee that oversees protection for royal family members, can decide if and how to provide security for him and Meghan, if she also decides to attend the coronation.

On a related matter, the RSVP deadline for the coronation invitation passed Monday, and royal insiders at Buckingham Palace told the Daily Mail they are “none the wiser” as to whether the California-based Sussexes will be at the Westminster Abbey ceremony.

The official invitation for the Coronation of The King and The Queen Consort has been revealed.

Designed by Andrew Jamieson, the invitation features the Green Man, an ancient figure from British folklore, symbolic of spring and rebirth, to celebrate the new reign.

1/7 pic.twitter.com/MpajIk0SQw

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) April 5, 2023

The couple have been keeping the royal family — and the feverish U.K. media — in suspense about their attendance. Prince William, for one, is supposedly “baffled” by Harry’s reluctance to publicly accept his father’s coronation invitation and believes his brother is being purposefully “difficult” by not announcing his and his wife’s intentions, the Daily Beast reported.

“William is baffled by Harry not publicly saying that he is coming to the coronation, especially because everyone thinks he will be there,” an anonymous personal friend of William’s told the Daily Beast. “Relations have never been this bad, and it feels like Harry is just stringing it out to try and be difficult, frankly.”

Harry and Meghan confirmed in early March that they had received an invitation, but their spokesperson said they were not ready at the time to say whether they will make the trip from California to attend.

The London Times reported Thursday that the Sussexes were on “the brink” of saying whether they would be there as organizers try to finalize plans for 2,000 guests, many of whom are international heads of state and VIPs.

Charles and organizers have been “working on the assumption that Harry and Meghan will come,” given that they’ve haven’t heard anything to the contrary, a friend of the king told the Daily Beast. The anonymous friend added that the family and institution as a whole are determined not to be “distracted” by the uncertainty around Harry and Meghan.

The Times said that, for some reason, the Sussexes have been waiting to hear about President Joe Biden’s plans. Now that Biden has told Charles by phone that he won’t be there, sending First Lady Jill Biden in his place to represent the United States, the Sussexes are expected to reveal their plans “within days,” The Times said.

Page Six also reported that the couple’s plans were close to being finalized with a source saying: “There have been lengthy discussions between the Sussexes and the palace. There is a time crunch on this, of course. It is such a historical event, and it’s hoped that Harry and Meghan will be there.”

Those discussions likely involve Harry’s concerns about security. Harry has gone to court over the U.K. government’s decision to deny him and his family the right to automatic protection since they stepped away from royal life in 2020 and moved to the United States.

The discussions also could involve Harry’s demand that he have a face-to-face meeting with royal family members before attending the coronation, the Daily Beast suggested. Harry told TV interviewer Tom Bradby in January that he wanted such a meeting. He also told another interview, Bryony Gordon of The Telegraph, that he wanted “an apology for my wife.”

Given the criticism that Harry aimed at his relatives in his memoir “Spare” and in his and Meghan’s Netflix series, anonymous royal sources have insisted that the royal family will make no such gestures towards Harry and Meghan, firmly believing they have nothing to apologize for, the Daily Beast said.

It was widely reported that Charles couldn’t or wouldn’t make time to see Harry during his surprise trip to London on March 27 to appear in court for another one of his lawsuits. Harry is suing the publishers of the Daily Mail and other publications over alleged incidents of phone hacking and invasion of privacy that mostly occurred from 1993 to 2011, the New York Post and other outlets reported.

The Telegraph reported that Harry “made contact” with his estranged father ahead of his trip but was told the king was “busy.” Charles had been scheduled to travel to France — his first overseas trip as monarch. But even after the trip to France was scrapped over ongoing riots, Charles still didn’t fit his son into his schedule, The Telegraph said.

It’s also not likely that Harry spent time with William, because his older brother and his family were on vacation for their children’s school holiday, the New York Post reported.

When it comes to the coronation, the Telegraph previously reported that the duke was in a “predicament” over whether to attend, aware that it would be the most important day of his father’s life. However, Harry has had little or no direct communication with his father since Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, while relations with William isn’t “even rock bottom now, it’s non-existent,” a source told the Daily Mail.

“I just don’t see, if Harry were to come to the coronation, how William could even bring himself to look his brother in the face,” another source supposedly told The Daily Mail.

Even as Harry and Meghan continue to keep people guessing about the coronation, organizers have been operating on the assumption that they will be there, saying it would be easy to adjust if they don’t show up, according to the Times.

A source recently told The Times that palace staff believe Harry will come, but they are less sure about Meghan. Even if the Sussexes attend, they will not be part of the procession after the service or join other working members of the royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, since they are no longer working royals.