Keeping their distance? Prince Harry and Prince William didn’t appear to cross paths during King Charles III‘s coronation ceremony on Saturday, May 6.
Harry, 38, was seated in the third row of London’s Westminster Abbey, joining cousins Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice and their respective husbands, Jack Brooksbank and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, inside the church while wearing his morning suit. (Us Weekly previously confirmed that Meghan Markle would not be attending the event with her husband.)
While the Duke of Sussex did not formally participate in Charles’ crowning, William, 40, was responsible for delivering an homage to the king. The Prince of Wales arrived with wife Princess Kate on Saturday, each wearing “formal robe and mantle at the request of the King and Queen,” per BBC.
The royal couple walked into the abbey with daughter Princess Charlotte, 8, and son Prince Louis, 5, and took their seats in the first row. Eldest child Prince George, 9, served as one of Charles’ Pages of Honour during the procession down the aisle and later joined his siblings for the ride back to Buckingham Palace.
At the end of the ceremony, Harry was not seen in the car procession with other senior royals and did not appear on the palace’s balcony. CBS News reported that the former military pilot would be absent from the post-coronation lunch.
Meghan, 41, skipped the event to stay home with son Archie, who turned 4 on Saturday, and daughter Lilibet, 23 months. Royal expert Nick Bullen previously told Us that Harry would likely be returning to the U.S. as soon as possible “to be back for Archie’s birthday.”
Harry has not been seen with his older sibling since addressing their tumultuous relationship in his memoir, Spare, which hit shelves in January.
“Two years older than me, Willy was the Heir, whereas I was the Spare. This wasn’t merely how the press referred to us — though it was definitely that. This was shorthand often used by Pa and Mummy and Grandpa. And even Granny,” he wrote, making reference to the origin of the book’s title. “I was summoned to provide backup, distraction, diversion and, if necessary, a spare part. Kidney, perhaps. Blood transfusion. Speck of bone marrow. This was all made explicitly clear to me from the start of life’s journey and regularly reinforced after.”
The BetterUp CIO went on to recall getting into a physical fight with William after the latter allegedly called Meghan “difficult” and “rude” in 2019.
“It all happened so fast. So very fast,” he claimed. “He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dogs’ bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out.”
That same month, Harry revealed that the Suits alum only found out about the altercation when she noticed “scrapes and bruises” on his back.
“He had a few issues which were based not on reality. And I was defending my wife. And he was coming for my wife — she wasn’t there at the time but through the things that he was saying. I was defending myself,” he explained during a 60 Minutes interview in January. “And we moved from one room into the kitchen. And his frustrations were growing and growing and growing. He was shouting at me. I was shouting back at him. It wasn’t nice. It wasn’t pleasant at all. And he snapped. And he pushed me to the floor.”
The brothers’ relationship has been rocky for years — and their tension only grew after Harry and Meghan announced their royal exit in 2020. While discussing the aftermath of the decision in Netflix’s docuseries Harry & Meghan, the former military pilot offered an update on his rift with William.
“I mean, the saddest part of it was this wedge created between myself and my brother, so that he’s now on the institution’s side,” Harry explained in a December 2022 episode. “Part of that, I get. I understand, right? That’s his inheritance. So, to some extent, it’s already ingrained in him that part of his responsibility is the survivability and the continuation of this institution.”
With the Archewell cofounder raising their children in California following their permanent exit from their senior royal duties, a source exclusively told Us that the Duke of Cambridge “doesn’t see how” his younger brother could “come back into the fold” of The Firm.
“At this point, he’s got no plans to speak to Harry,” the insider told Us in January. “He’s come to terms with the fact [that] he’s lost his little brother and quite possibly for life.”
