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Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and their children stood out for their absence from television screens on Thursday as they were omitted at the opening ceremony of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in what appeared to be an effort decided by narrative control by Buckingham Palace.
Official royal sources told the media that Harry and Meghan and their family were seated with other members of the royal family in the commanding general’s office, a large ceremony room with a privileged view of the ceremony. known as Trooping the Color, which marks the Queen’s Day. official birthday.
She was not seen in Sussex arriving or leaving the ceremony, although Meghan was allowed to see the ceremony from a window. He looked like he was wearing a navy suit and a wide-brimmed hat. In photos posted by The Daily Mail, Meghan was seen putting her fingers to her lips jokingly to silence Zara’s daughter, Mia Tindall. Harry was photographed talking to the Duke of Kent.
The California-based couple was said to have quietly arrived at London’s Horse Guards Parade by car with their children, unlike other family members who arrived in public in horse-drawn carriages.
Kate Middleton and her three children arrived and left the gun camp at high speed in a horse-drawn carriage with Camilla Parker Bowles. Kate’s husband, Prince William, was in the royal parade ground with her father, Prince Charles. Prince William and Kate had previously said on Twitter that they “look forward to celebrating” the queen’s platinum jubilee.
Prince George was seen in the window of the Major General’s office, as was Kate, although it looked as if the Sussex were watching the ceremony on television inside the room, staying largely their children away from the windows.
Sussex’s strange erasure of Thursday’s iconography represented another twist in the complicated and sour relationship between Sussex and Windsor that has now dominated royal history for more than two years since Harry and Megan left the royal family. and they moved to America.
The Queen had previously said that Harry and Meghan could not join her on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, saying that this privilege would be reserved only for the working members of the royal family. However, on Wednesday night it was announced that Harry and Meghan and the children would attend the spectacular display of pomp and ceremony in the military ceremonial hall, where Kate Middleton and Camilla would also be present, and Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie.
This is believed to be the first time Meghan and Kate have been in the same room since Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in March 2020, when William and Kate almost completely ignored Harry and Meghan.
The revelation that they would meet with Kate Middleton in this space led many observers to assume that the couple would formally appear with other members of the royal family, but this did not happen, in what appeared to be a harsh attempt at Buckingham Palace. to control the optics. and avoid comments about the relationship between body language between Harry and Meghan and Kate.
Shortly after 12 noon, the Queen went out on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to receive a royal salute from her troops. Her Majesty, who has had mobility problems, used a cane, but instead walked without help and seemed in a good mood.
He then returned to the palace before resurrecting with a full set of members of the royal family, including Kate, William, and their children, to observe a six-minute passage of 70 planes, one for each of his years on the throne. The queen shone with joy as the famous RAF acrobatic team, the Red Arrows, painted the skies red, white and blue.
He was expected to reappear Thursday night to light the first of a string of jubilee beacons.
Meghan and Harry are on their first joint visit to the UK since leaving royal life and moving to America, after landing in London on Wednesday afternoon, where they were greeted by a royal car sent by the Queen to pick them up, played by some. as a conciliatory gesture.
At least two protesters, one wearing a mock crown, were dragged by police after trying to disrupt the opening minutes of the queen’s birthday parade. They jumped out of the crowd and in front of the red-clad soldiers marching down London’s main ceremonial street, The Mall, shortly after the proceedings began at 10am, one wearing a crown and the other a placard that looked like be agitating for a redistribution of royal land.
The welds did not break and one of the protesters was about to be trampled.