The palace worries that Prince Harry might pull out of the coronation at the last minute

This weekend, Buckingham Palace released a lot of news about the coronation, which is happening on May 6th (Saturday). While the various bits and bobs of Chubbly news got headlines, make no mistake, the biggest story is still the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. I don’t know how many times the British papers can report the exact same news – Meghan is staying home! Harry’s visit will be brief! – but they’re definitely keeping the focus on the royal court of Montecito. Sucks to be a British tabloid editor. In any case, I’m starting to get a good idea of how Prince Harry negotiated his appearance at the coronation – he merely acknowledged the invitation for months, blanked on all of the palace courtiers and waited until his father called him directly. Which King Charles finally did a few weeks ago, and it was only then that Harry agreed to come. Now I think Harry is waiting until Charles picks up the phone again to confirm any of his arrangements, and the palace is (again) openly briefing the Mail about how they have no idea what Harry will do.

Coronation organisers are ‘stressed’ about Prince Harry’s plans for Saturday, complaining that establishing them is ‘like trying to communicate with Mars’. Insiders told The Mail on Sunday that they were still seeking confirmation of ‘when he is coming, where he is staying, when he is going back and whether he is happy with his seating position in the Abbey’. Some are even suspicious that he might still pull out at the last minute.

Sources say they have been told so little about Harry’s plans that ‘anything could happen’, ranging from a token appearance to a last-minute no-show. One source said: ‘He has not been responding other than in a “We acknow­ledge your email” holding manner. It’s like trying to communicate with Mars – it was easier to deal with Sinn Fein.’

The Coronation source added: ‘Harry seems to be adopting a High Noon approach, making everyone sweat about his movements. While the Royals are confident that he will show up, others involved are not quite so convinced. The working assumption now is that, assuming he does come, it could mean arriving as late as very early Saturday by private jet and leaving by late afternoon the same day.’

[From The Daily Mail]

LMAO. Harry has all week to do the funniest thing ever, which is skip the coronation after telling his father he would come. I mean, I doubt he will do that. He’ll show up. But unless Charles speaks to him directly, Harry is refusing to engage with Charles’s minions. For good reason – whatever he says to them will be leaked within an hour. There are very real security concerns and Harry also knows his father is a vindictive bastard. Speaking of, the Sun also had a piece about how Harry probably won’t even be in London for a full 24 hours:

PrinceHarry plans a whistlestop visit to his dad’s Coronation next weekend. He will see Charles crowned at Westminster Abbey then aims to be back in the US for son Archie’s fourth birthday.

Speculation has been rife over how long he intends to stay in London, and an insider confirmed last night: “Harry will be in and out of the UK in 24 hours. He will only be doing the Coronation service then leaving.”

The 11am ceremony ends at 1pm so Harry could be in the air by 2-3pm. He would spend ten hours travelling 5,000 miles and land by early evening local time. His full travel plans have been kept secret for security reasons. But it is believed he will arrive in London on Friday — and could return to Santa Barbara airport, 14 miles from his Montecito home by private jet.

[From The Sun]

The Sun also theorized about which airports Harry might use to leave, which just reminded me of the unhinged behavior of the British tabloids last September, just days before QEII passed away, when the Sussexes traveled to Manchester for Meghan’s One Young World speech. The tabloids went full stalker and published diagrams and maps to show the routes the Sussexes were likely taking from Windsor to Manchester, the timetables of the trains and the estimated times of arrival. Like, that’s what’s in store for Harry during this visit too – the papers will publish any scrap of information, especially if it puts Harry in danger. I’m glad he’s not even telling the palace where he’ll be staying. I hope he doesn’t even fly in on Friday. He could honestly time it so he arrives early on Saturday morning and only spends about four or five hours in the UK.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.