The photos in this post are from 2018 and 2019, the only two times the Duchess of Sussex was invited to participate in the whole Trooping the Colour rigmarole. Trooping is the monarch’s annual birthday parade, only it’s not scheduled for a king or queen’s actual birthday. Instead, a date is chosen – usually a Saturday in early or mid-June – and in the olden days, QEII expected her whole family to turn up for the parade and the balcony wave. She included all of her kids and grandkids, random cousins and second-cousins and all of the married-in spouses. All of that changed when Prince Harry married Meghan.

Even before the Sussexit, there were conversations among Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace courtiers about what to do to minimize Meghan, to show the world that a Black woman was not allowed full access to all of the Windsors’ white spaces. The Sussexit actually made it easier for for the courtiers to declare that Meghan would never again be “allowed” on the balcony. Post-Sussexit, the balcony issue has only come up one time – in 2022, when QEII invited the Sussexes to her Platinum Jubbly. The Windsors were so focused on snubbing the Sussexes and ensuring that they wouldn’t be allowed on the balcony, that’s year’s Trooping balcony seemed notably sad and bare.

It’s only gotten worse from there – last year’s Trooping was a mess, and don’t forget that Prince William stole his dad’s Trooping thunder by giving a big interview that same weekend. This year’s Trooping balcony will be even emptier than last year’s, as it’s looking like the Princess of Wales and her children probably won’t be around. So, how best to deflect from the six-months-long Where Is Kate conversation? I know, leak to People Magazine that the Sussexes are NOT invited to Trooping!

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will be missing from Trooping the Colour later this month.

PEOPLE confirms the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have not been invited to this year’s annual celebration of the British monarch’s birthday in London, scheduled for June 15. They were also not invited to the event last year, which marked the first time Trooping the Colour took place during the reign of King Charles, Harry’s father.

Prince Harry, 39, and Meghan, 42, have been living in California since stepping back as working members of the royal family in 2020.

[From People]

This sounds obvious enough – of course the Sussexes were not invited and of course they wouldn’t even go if they were invited. They’re not popping over to England for every dumb event, especially when Harry’s dogsh-t father is doing the most to smear him over everything. Here’s my question though – who actually gave this to People? Did the palace courtiers release this as a “snub” to the Sussexes (and a deflection from Kate’s absence), or is this another version of Harry’s “my father is too busy to see me” statement? Like, is Charles going to throw another tantrum, this one about the Sussexes confirming that they weren’t invited to Trooping?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Instar and Cover Images.