Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were once again absent from Trooping the Colour.
King Charles marked his second official birthday celebration and parade as monarch on June 15, but his younger son and daughter-in-law were missing from the festivities in London.
PEOPLE confirmed earlier this month that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had not been invited to Trooping the Colour for the second year in a row.
Prince Harry, 39, and Meghan, 42, stepped back as working members of the royal family in 2020 and relocated to her home state of California, where they now live with their two children, their 5-year-old son, Prince Archie, and 3-year-old daughter, Princess Lilibet.
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While Prince Harry has been a regular at the staple of the royal calendar since childhood, the couple attended the event three times together following their royal wedding in 2018. Just a month after tying the knot, Meghan made her Trooping the Colour debut. They also took part in the event together the following year in 2019, just weeks after Archie’s birth.
Trooping the Colour was significantly scaled down in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, held for Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle without a large gathering of family members.
Prince Harry and Meghan traveled from California to the U.K. for the event in 2022, which kicked off the Platinum Jubilee celebrations marking the late Queen’s 70 years on the throne. However, they did not take part in the procession or the balcony appearance as they did in previous years. Queen Elizabeth limited the balcony gathering to only working royals and some of their children, so Harry and Meghan watched the festivities from a room above Horse Guards Parade along with other non-working royals.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex haven’t been in the U.K. for Trooping the Colour since his father acceded to the throne in Sept. 2022.
Prince Harry most recently returned to his home country in May to celebrate 10 years of the Invictus Games, a Paralympic-style competition for veterans and service personnel. However, Harry did not reunite with his father due to King Charles’ “full” schedule. The father and son last saw each other in February when Harry flew to London to see the King amid news of the monarch’s cancer diagnosis.
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This year’s Trooping the Colour saw Kate Middleton making her first royal outing since Christmas amid her cancer diagnosis. The Princess of Wales rode in a horse-drawn carriage and stepped out on the Buckingham Palace balcony during the event.
Princess Kate’s attendance at King Charles’ birthday parade was confirmed the day prior as she released a new photo and personal letter featuring a health update. After undergoing abdominal surgery in January, she announced in an emotional video released on March 22 that she’d been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy.
“I’m looking forward to attending the King’s Birthday Parade this weekend with my family and hope to join a few public engagements over the summer, but equally knowing I am not out of the woods yet,” she said in the June 14 message.
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The Princess of Wales said in her June 14 message that she is “starting to do a little work from home” and expressed a “hope to join a few public engagements over the summer,” but no date has been set for her to fully return to her royal duties. Any outings in the near future will be based on when she feels able and under the guidance of her medical team.
