Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle were already in the country when the Queen died. The pair intended to participate in many charitable activities after flying to the UK on Saturday, September 3.
They went to the One Young World Summit on Monday, the Invictus Dusseldorf 2023 One Year to Go event on Tuesday, and the WellChild Awards on Thursday, when Harry was expected to deliver a speech.
However, their preparations were thwarted when royal physicians declared that the Queen was in a severe state. Harry went to his grandmother’s side after hearing the news.
Alas, he arrived at Aberdeen airport sixteen minutes after the royal family announced the Queen’s death at 6:30 p.m.
Meghan stayed in London while Harry raced to the Queen’s Balmoral castle, where she may stay until her grandmother-in-law’s burial on Monday, September 19.
While Harry will remain, it is unclear if Meghan will stay until the day of the funeral. The couple is currently debating if to fly Meghan’s mother, Doria, to the UK with their kids, Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1.
But, the funeral is still a few days away, and as a mother who had planned to be away from her children for six days, Meghan is terrified of being apart from them for so long. There is speculation that she will skip the burial and return to the United States to be with her children.
Many rumors say that Archie and Lilibet will not travel to the UK for their great grandmother’s burial. Harry wished to spare them the agony he had gone through during his mother’s burial 25 years ago.
Following behind his mother’s funeral service as a 12-year-old boy with his head dropped and fists clenched beside his then-15-year-old brother, Prince William, was a terrible ordeal for the father of two.
As the procession went slowly through the streets of London, the two marched beside their dad, then-Prince Charles, their grandpa, Prince Philip, and their maternal uncle, Earl Spencer.
Considering the fact that it happened decades ago, Harry confesses that the incident damaged him for life. His mother had just died, and he had to go a long way behind her coffin as countless individuals saw him on TV, he explained.
He doesn’t think any youngster, under any conditions, should be expected to do that.
Given how the tragedy impacted him and changed his life for the next few years, it is understandable that he would wish to protect his children from the same. It is also worth noting that his kids are considerably younger than he was at the time of his mother’s burial, and their sorrow may be much more intense.
Prince Harry and the Queen had always had a strong relationship, and her death devastated him. Harry appeared distraught as he walked behind the casket down the Mall during her funeral welcoming procession on Wednesday, September 14.
Eventually, the duke could be seen wiping tears from his eyes as the casket, adorned with The Royal Standard and Imperial State Crown, was put into Westminster Hall, where the Queen would lie in state until the burial.
Meghan, who had driven to Westminster Hall with Sophie, Countess of Wessex, was subsequently spotted clutching Harry’s hand as they left the hall in a sign of encouragement and comfort.
After his two bereavement experiences – the deaths of his mother and grandmother, it is reasonable that Harry and Meghan would wish to shield their young kids from the pain.
As things currently stand, it is unclear if Meghan will attend the burial. Neil Sean, a royal analyst, says that if she remains, the media will make the funeral about her, watching what she will wear, her cosmetics, and her emotions, and thereby diverting their attention away from the lady of the day – the Queen.
On the other hand, if she decides to go back to the US to be with her kids, which makes sense given how long she has been away from them, it would look as if she is fleeing.
The funeral will be place in Westminster Abbey, followed by a committal service at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, following the arrival of the Queen’s casket at Westminster Hall on Wednesday, September 14, during which people paid their tributes as they went by the coffin.
All of the Queen’s kids and their spouses, such as King Charles III and Queen Consort Camila, Prince Edward and Sophie, Princess Anne and Sir Timothy Laurence, and Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, are anticipated to be present.
Prince William and Kate Middleton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Peter Philips, Zara, and Mike Tindall, Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, Lady Louise Windsor, and James, Viscount Severn will all be there.
It is unknown if the Queen’s great-grandchildren will join. F oreign leaders such as New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, American President Joe Biden, and members of the royal families of Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Spain are expected to be present at the burial.
Her husband, the late Prince Philip, will be transported from the Royal Vault under St. George’s Chapel, where he has been temporarily buried, and placed beside her in her ultimate burial place at Windsor Castle.
The two will now lie in peace, accompanied by the Queen’s departed family, which includes her father, King George VI, who died in 1952, her mother, the Queen Mother, who died in 2002, and her sister, Princess Margaret, who died in 2002.
