Less than four weeks out from the coronation of his father, Prince Harry has yet to publicly confirm if he will attend, and that has left organizers of the marquee event “exasperated” and frustrated, a new report claims. The couple was reported last week to be on the point of making a decision but have still not confirmed, despite reportedly being in “email correspondence” with the palace, the Mirror says.
Although, as The Daily Beast has reported, insiders at the palace strongly suspect that Harry and Meghan will show up on the day, a source in their camp told the Daily Mirror that “no decision” had been made by the couple, despite an April 3 cut-off date for RSVPs.
A source told the Mirror: “They (Harry and Meghan) still haven’t confirmed either way. Of course they will be afforded extra time but in all honesty, everyone is exasperated with them.” Palace sources told the Mirror they would continue to make plans on the assumption the Sussexes will attend “unless advised otherwise.”
Meanwhile Robert Jobson, author of a new book on Charles titled Our King, told TalkTV: “They have been given an RSVP, they have missed that deadline. It’s getting a little rude now to say the least. You are either going to support your dad on his moment of destiny or you are not. But don’t just keep everyone guessing because that then creates the whole tabloid speculation, which is basically saying it’s all about them, and frankly it is not all about them, it really isn’t.”
One source told the Mirror: “It’s all very frantic, complete chaos to be frank. There is a plan, which is supposed to be the blueprint of how the day should operate, but things are changing daily which is causing massive headaches.”
There is increasing evidence that enthusiasm for the coronation is failing to ignite the British populace, amid suspicion that the palace have compressed the coronation procession route to avoid a thin crowd. The route will be 1.3 miles, a quarter of the distance covered by Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
One sign of trouble ahead could be a column by the writer Allison Pearson, who wrote in the usually fiercely loyal Daily Telegraph: “As a monarchist, I really want to be excited about the coronation, but it’s proving a struggle…you do wonder whether the Palace is concerned about a low turn-out.
Certainly, a number of devout Elizabethans I know, who always stood along the Mall waving Union flags for the big occasions, are experiencing the first stirrings of anti-Royalist sentiment as our new king diverges from his mother who, with unimpeachable discretion, managed to be a symbol of unity and stability for 70 years.”
A recent YouGov poll for anti-monarchy pressure group Republic found that as the date of King Charles’s coronation is inching closer, only 15 percent of participants said they were “very interested” in the coronation.
