King Charles III is playing three-dimensional chess with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. He has put them in a tough spot regarding his coronation ceremony in May.
The power couple and their young children — Archie and Lilibet — will get an invite to the historic gathering.
However, choosing to go is a complex issue. Attending the ceremony would be suitable for their profile. It is hard to deny that the renegade royals greatly benefited from their connection to the British monarchy.
A high-profile appearance at the coronation would give them more content for their future endeavors. However, it would also make them look like hypocrites after putting the Royal Family on blast for over two years.
The Monarch, who does not really want them to be at the event, is happy to let them make the call and not appear as the bad guy in the situation.
Not inviting them at all would be a bad look for a Sovereign who wants to appear generous and above the fray.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex cannot turn down the invitation outright because it would be a petty thing to do.
The two sides do not want to cross paths at the coronation since some red lines have been crossed with the Harry & Meghan docuseries and Spare tell-all memoir.
The goal now is to find an exit ramp that is acceptable to both parties in the high-stakes Kabuki dance. As the big date gets closer, ideas to get the Sussexes out of their predicament are becoming clearer.
There is an excuse that the couple has used in the past to avoid traveling to England that could work now. Security concerns have always been a big issue for the renegade royals.
After the revelations from Spare, the threats have increased against the prince and his family. Since there is still no agreement with the British government, using this would be believable.
Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told the Daily Mail: “There have also been threats of a further memoir as Harry claims Spare was originally twice the length. There is also enormous public and press hostility to them in Britain, this they know. Harry’s concerns over security, which will not be helped by his revelations about the number of Taliban insurgents he personally killed, may also be a factor as he has a case pending against the Home Office on this issue.”
King Charles is watching all of this with a lot of interest, and Prince Harry may have found his way out of an embarrassing situation.
