The British media is, unsurprisingly, still gagged about Prince Harry’s quickie visit to the UK for his father’s coronation. They can’t believe he didn’t throw a fit about wearing his uniform, they can’t believe that he showed up in an impeccable Dior suit, and they can’t believe that Dior proudly posted tweets about his suit. I lost count of how many columns, articles, commentary pieces and screeds were written about Harry’s appearance at the coronation. One of the most telling pieces was in the Telegraph, all about Harry’s “28 hour visit” and how it would be his last visit for the Windsors likely until his father passed away:

It was quite possibly the Duke of Sussex’s last royal hurrah, a few brief strides down the Westminster Abbey aisle before the dash to Heathrow and a flight back to his home in effective exile in California.

The Duke was in such a rush to get home, he was still wearing his medals and morning suit when he reached the airport for the 3.45pm British Airways flight to Los Angeles. As he was flying out of London, the King and Queen were still to have their official photographs taken to mark the Coronation. Prince Harry will not appear in any of them.

In all, the Duke spent just 28 hours in the UK for the briefest of appearances on the royal stage. It’s not obvious that he will do that again any time soon. His father’s funeral – whenever that is and King Charles is a fit and healthy 74 – might just be the next time he rubs shoulders in public with his immediate family. No other royal event of such a magnitude that could tempt him (or force him) to attend is on the horizon.

The Boeing 777 jet touched down on Friday morning at just after 11.20am and the Duke whisked from Heathrow to his once family home at Frogmore Cottage in Home Park in Windsor Park, a brief drive of no more than 20 minutes. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who spent millions renovating the cottage, will soon have to give it up after the King ordered their eviction. The prince will, in all likelihood, never stay there again.

The Duke spent the night in Windsor but did not see his brother the Prince of Wales nor speak with his father or stepmother. While other Royals were engaged in eve-of-Coronation duties, the Duke must have spent the hours wondering what he was doing in the UK, trying to keep jetlag at bay and speaking to his wife and children via video link.

…The Duke had missed his son’s birthday party but was home in time to give Prince Archie a goodnight kiss. He had spent just 28 hours on UK soil and now he was home in California. Dreaming, no doubt, of his new life away from the royal household he was born into.

[From The Telegraph]

“The Duke must have spent the hours wondering what he was doing in the UK” – doubtful, Harry knows exactly why he came and he thought long and hard about showing respect for his father on Charles’s big day. “No other royal event of such a magnitude that could tempt him (or force him) to attend is on the horizon.” That’s what is terrifying to the British media and the Windsors. When the Sussexes moved to California, the Windsors had to invent all of these “reasons” why Harry just had to come back, why it would be “shocking” if he did not. More than three years later, they ran out of reasons and bodies. Now, that being said, Harry will be back in the UK next month. To testify in his case against the Mirror. He probably won’t see his family at all, nor would he want to see anyone other than his York cousins and maybe his father (but again, I think Harry knows that he won’t have a relationship with his father going forward).

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.