Prince Harry feels “regretful” about no longer marking Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph with his royal relatives, according to an expert. The Duke of Sussex, 41, feels passionately about Remembrance Day, having served in the armed forces himself for 10 years.
However, since stepping down from his senior royal role, the duke now spends Remembrance Day in America, where he has lived for the past five years. This means that neither Harry nor his wife, Meghan Markle, attend Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph anymore – something other key members of the Firm do annually. While the Sussexes mark the day in their own way across the pond, royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told the Express last year that Harry is likely to be “regretful” that he is no longer in the UK for such an occasion.
Mr Fitzwilliams said in 2024 about Remembrance Sunday: “For Harry, there will undoubtedly be mixed feelings. He is still part of the British military family and its major act of homage to the fallen in Whitehall, where his father, the King, leads the nation’s homage to the fallen. He will be absent in person but undoubtedly present in spirit.
“Each year on Remembrance Sunday he and Meghan commemorate it by doing something which they regard as appropriate for the occasion.
“Prince Harry has always said that the decade he spent in the military was the making of him. His two tours of duty in Afghanistan were undoubtedly a success and his popularity at that time was huge in Britain.
“On an occasion like Remembrance Sunday, his thoughts, from California, will undoubtedly be regretful.”
The prince first laid a wreath at the Cenotaph in 2009.
He has spoken many times about his experience in the Armed Forces, and set up the Invictus Foundation in 2014 to help wounded and ill ex-servicemen and women.
Talking to People magazine about his time in the army in 2023, Harry said: “It’s a duty, a job and a service to our country — and having done two tours of duty in Afghanistan for my country, I’ve done all I could to be the best soldier I was trained to be.”
Speaking about addressing his experiences in his memoir Spare, Harry said: “There’s truly no right or wrong way to try and navigate these feelings, but I know from my own healing journey that silence has been the least effective remedy. Expressing and detailing my experience is how I chose to deal with it, in the hopes it would help others.”
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