It was dubbed a ‘royal reunion’ at the time, as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle united with the rest of the Royal Family for their first joint engagement in two years.
But the Sussexes were kept apart from Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Charles and Camilla – and left separately.
The Service of Thanksgiving for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at St Paul’s Cathedral, which took place on this day three years ago, came at a frosty time for Harry and his family.
He had reportedly hardly seen his father and brother since emigrating to California with Meghan.
The Duke of Sussex had accused Charles of cutting him off financially and Meghan claimed an unnamed royal made a comment about Archie’s skin tone before he was born during their bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview the year prior.
It was the first time Harry and Meghan had been on full public view alongside the Royal Family since they stepped down from official royal duties.
Crowds cheered the pair as they arrived, with the couple smiling and waving, but both boos and cheers could be heard as they departed.
And, although they would have known it had they seen their plummeting approval ratings in opinion polls, it was the first time they had to face up to the new reality that the public was turning against them.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend a Service of Thanksgiving for the 2022 Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II
Harry was seated at the opposite side to his brother Prince William and the two did not speak at the St Paul’s Cathedral service
Harry was seen laughing and joking in his seat as he spoke with Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie
They arrived ten minutes before William and Kate and were seated to the right. When William and Kate arrived to loud cheers, they were whisked off to the left.
The late Queen missed the historic event following a last-minute decision announced by Buckingham Palace after she experienced ‘discomfort’ during the Trooping the Colour parade the day before. The Duke of York was also absent after testing positive for Covid.
Indicative of their new more minor position within the Royal Family, the Sussexes were seated in the second row, behind the Wessex family and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, with Harry next to Princess Eugenie’s husband Jack Brooksbank and Meghan next to Princess Margaret’s daughter Lady Sarah Chatto.
Across the aisle, Charles and Camilla had seats beside them for William and Kate and the Princess Royal and her husband, Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence.
Harry was seen appearing to enjoy a joke with someone seated across the aisle. Beatrice, sitting a few seats down from him, was also grinning in the same direction.
But William was not pictured smiling throughout the ceremony and did not exchange words with his brother.
Harry and Meghan previously told the Queen they would keep a low profile during the Jubilee celebrations and would only take part in official engagements.
She reportedly ‘ordered the family to come together’ with ‘no dramas’ to overshadow the events.
The service marked the 70th anniversary of the Queen’s ascension to the throne
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (left) and the now Prince and Princess of Wales (right) outside St Paul’s Cathedral on June 3, 2022
A source said at the time: ‘It’s a typically elegant solution as you would expect. The Queen wants her family there and they are still part of it. But in a carefully controlled fashion.’
It was Harry and Meghan’s first joint engagement with senior royals since the icy Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey in March 2020 – shortly before they officially stepped down as senior royals.
The Daily Mail reported that the couple were upset to learn that they would not be permitted to join the Queen and other family members in the main VIP party.
Instead, they were told they would have to make their own way to their seats at the front of the abbey, alongside the Earl and the Countess of Wessex, before the arrival of other senior royals.
William and Kate stepped in to defuse the situation and offered to join ’emotional’ Harry and Meghan as they waited in their seats for the Queen, Charles and Camilla to arrive.
But not before 2,000 orders of service had been signed off and printed, which very clearly – and rather embarrassingly – placed William and Kate firmly as entering with the main royal party.
And it seems that their 11th-hour olive branch did not ease the ill-feeling within the feuding family.
As Kate and William arrived to take their seats, Kate appeared to blank Harry and Meghan, while the two brothers exchanged only the most awkward of hellos.
William and Kate had offered to join ’emotional’ Harry and Meghan as they waited for the Queen and then-Duke and Duchess of Cornwall to arrive at the Westminster Abbey Commonwealth Service in 2020
Although Harry greeted his brother William with a smile, there was little interaction between them.
The decision not to include the Sussexes was made by the Queen’s office directly, led by her private secretary Edward Young, MailOnline reported.
Prior to the Service of Thanksgiving for the Platinum Jubilee, the Queen had lunch with the Sussexes and other senior royals behind closed doors – and also met her great-granddaughter Lilibet for the first time.
Harry and Meghan, who were staying at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor while visiting from California, were not allowed on the Buckingham Palace balcony during the Trooping the Colour parade, and instead watched proceedings from the Horse Guards Parade.
Meanwhile, key workers, charity volunteers and members of the armed forces were invited to the Queen’s Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s in recognition of their contribution to public life.
Perhaps after these two tense events it was no surprise that Meghan would stop returning to the UK.
Her relations with the Firm had been strained since she started dating Harry in the summer of 2016 before they creaked further after her wedding in 2018, and then finally reached a breaking point after the so-called Megxit of 2020.
The Queen’s funeral in September 2022 was the last time Meghan touched UK soil with the notoriously awkward walkabout further fracturing the wounded relationship between the families.
Members of the Royal Family outside St Paul’s Cathedral including Meghan,Harry and Zara Tindall
The Queen’s funeral was the last time Meghan touched UK soil, with the notoriously awkward walkabout further fracturing the wounded relationship between the families
Since the seating incident in June 2022, Meghan and Harry have launched the Netflix series Harry & Meghan and With Love, Meghan.
Meghan’s lifestyle and cooking brand, As Ever, was officially launched in April 2025.
Most recently the Duke of Sussex lost a legal challenge over the levels of security he and the family are entitled to while in the UK.
Harry had been seeking to overturn a decision that had downgraded his security after he stopped being a working royal and moved to the US with Meghan and their two children – Archie, six, and Lilibet, three.
In his sit down interview with the BBC shortly after losing his appeal, the Duke said he wanted to reconcile with his family, while alleging his father, King Charles, was not speaking with him.
He said there had been ‘so many disagreements’ in the family, but the ‘only thing that’s left’ is the row over his security – which he said had ‘always been the sticking point’.
Hopes of a reconciliation are unlikely as Harry continues to make public jabs at the Firm, which his grandmother, the late Queen, devoted her entire life to.
