Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been heavily criticized for their decision to stay in Montecito, California and not fly back to the UK with their children, Archie 2, and nine-month-old daughter Lilibet for Prince Philip’s memorial which took place at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday, March 29th. “I think everyone was rather surprised that he wouldn’t be coming to the Thanksgiving Service because he was very close to the Duke of Edinburgh,” True Royalty TV co-founder Nick Bullen told Fox News Digital, in reference to Prince Harry’s absence. “He obviously came back for the funeral, so his decision was surprising to people. There doesn’t seem to be much reason as to why he wouldn’t come.”
Harry, 37, previously said that he didn’t feel comfortable flying to the UK or attending the memorial due to not being given the same amount of security he was used to before he and Meghan, 40, stepped down as senior royals in January 2020, and not being allowed to pay for it using his own money (as opposed to that of the taxpayers, as would have been the case if he was still a working member of the royal family) which he does in America.
The Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, along with their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, the Countess of Wessex, the Princess Royal, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie were among the guests at the memorial.
Royal author Ingrid Seward simply said that the couple "missed an opportunity" by not attending the service (perhaps meaning that it would have been an opportunity for their daughter Lilibet to meet her great-grandmother who she was named after, as well as the rest of the family?) and choosing to stay in California made them look "petulant and rude."
"Harry must have known it would look petulant and rude. And if he did not Meghan would have," she said. "The wall of silence was as loud as if they had shouted from the abbey rafters. The normally verbose duke and duchess of Sussex said nothing."
Seward wasn’t the only critic, as royal biographer Angela Levin also slammed Prince Harry's decision to not fly to the UK, suggesting that the reason he didn’t attend the service was because he didn’t want to come "without a Netflix gang of photographers," in reference to the estimated $100 million deal the couple signed with Netflix in September 2020.
"He needs to make another documentary because they’ve got lots of money and they haven’t really done anything," Levin said on GB News Breakfast with Eamonn and Isabel. "I think that’s what it is, he wants to have that as an excuse. He can go around everywhere and do all these things, but you can’t have your royal cake and eat it I'm afraid."
This isn’t the only criticism the royal family has received for Prince Philip's memorial. Her Majesty herself was criticized for her decision to allow disgraced son Prince Andrew to escort her to her seat, which critics have said "overshadowed" the entire ceremony.
