Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Sit in 2nd Row for Queen's Funeral: Photos
Meghan Markle attended Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral with Prince Harry on Monday, September 19.
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The Duchess of Sussex, 41, joined her husband, 38, at Westminster Abbey after Harry participated in the procession from Westminster Hall. Inside the church, the Suits alum and Invictus Games founder walked next to each other behind the queen’s coffin with other members of the royal family.
The duo, who tied the knot in 2018, then took their seats in the second row behind King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla, who sat in the front row with the queen’s other children — Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward — as well as Prince William, Princess Kate, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
After relocating to the U.S. in 2020, Harry and Meghan were in the U.K. for an event when the queen died in Scotland on September 8. She was 96. The duke subsequently traveled to Balmoral Castle to see his grandmother and arrived after the palace announced that the monarch had passed away.
In the days following, Harry and Meghan joined Prince William and Princess Kate to greet mourners who lined the streets of Windsor, England, on September 10. “In the end, [William] elected to [invite them] because it was agreed amongst all of them that this very much the appropriate thing to do,” a source told Us Weekly of the outing, which marked the first time the brothers and their wives stepped out together in public in years.
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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also attended a Westminster Hall service on Wednesday, September 14. While they arrived separately — Harry walked in a procession with the monarch’s casket alongside William, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward — Meghan rode in a car with Sophie, Countess of Wessex. King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla led the group out of the chapel after the service, with Harry and Meghan walking out hand in hand.
On Saturday, September 17, Harry and Meghan were present for the queen’s final vigil at Westminster Hall, with the prince being granted last-minute permission to wear his military uniform for the occasion amid backlash that Andrew was the only nonworking member of the royal family given an exception. (Harry was stripped of his military titles when he and Meghan announced their plans to stop working for the queen as senior members of the family in 2020.)
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King Charles previously extended an “olive branch” to the pair when he mentioned them in his first address as the new king, per royal expert Gareth Russell.
“I think the king has made it very clear that he wants to heal the rift. Family dynamics, of course, are always complicated, but I think we can all see that there’s a great deal of pain,” Russell told Us after Charles sent his “love” to the Sussexes as they “continue to build their life overseas” on September 9.
Harry and Meghan, who share son Archie, 3, and daughter Lilibet, 15 months, have been critical of their experiences within the family, but also praised the queen over the years.
“This is such an intensely difficult time for the princes,” an insider told Us of Harry and William earlier this month. “They both adored their grandma and it will take some time to process the reality of her passing. There’s still this horrendous sense of loss and emptiness thinking that she’ll no longer be around.”
