Prince Harry is said to have quickly stopped at Buckingham Palace after King Charles’ coronation without seeing the royal family.
The Duke of Sussex, 38, travelled to the UK on Friday to see his dad crowned at London’s Westminster Abbey the following day, and jetted home to his California mansion hours after the historic event to be with his wife Duchess Meghan, 41, and celebrate their son Archie’s fourth birthday.
It has now been claimed by the Daily Telegraph the royal slipped “in and out briefly” of Buckingham Palace, where he is said to have spent less than 30 minutes before travelling to Heathrow Airport while the rest of his family were still tied up with coronation duties.
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A source told the newspaper his apparent brief stop was for “logistical” reasons as it “allowed him to take a moment out of the public gaze following the two-hour Abbey service”.
Harry was absent from the royal family’s official coronation portraits, and is “not known to have seen or spoken to his relatives”, according to the Telegraph. Insiders also stressed the apparent lack of contact was for “practical reasons only” as Harry was “keen to return to his wife and children in America as soon as possible”.
It would have been the first time the duke had been at the palace since the funeral of his grandmother Queen Elizabeth, who died aged 96 in September.
He stayed at his former family home of Frogmore Cottage for his 36-hour coronation stay.
The crowning ceremony was the first time the duke had appeared with his family since the publication of his memoir “Spare”, released in January, and he was seated in the third row for the event – two rows behind his brother the Prince of Wales.
His attendance is said to have pleased the King, who had hoped to have both his sons at the ceremony.