Prince Harry’s ’19 Minutes of Pain’ Was on Full Display at Event When the Reality of His Royal Rift Finally ‘Sunk In’

Most fans remember the last time we saw Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as working royals during a Commonwealth Day Service in March 2020. While there was tension that day between the Sussexes and some of the prince’s family member s, it was nothing compared to how the duke was treated when he returned to England with his wife after two years abroad.

Harry learned the true meaning of being a non-working royal at a major event he attended with the duchess when the wounds of their explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey were still fresh in people’s minds. And according to an expert, it was then that Harry began to realize the true magnitude of the path he and Meghan chose away from the monarchy as his “pain” was on display for everyone to see.

Event where Prince Harry was treated in a way he didn’t expect

The date was June 3, 2022, and the event was a service of thanksgiving for Queen Elizabeth II at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London during her Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

The welcome wagon to the duke and duchess’s new status as non-working royals was to ride to the cathedral in a coach with lesser-known family members. Commentator Lady Colin Campbell told GB News that the duo was purposely late for their pickup so they would miss the transportation and make their own grand entrance to the event later.

Campbell explained: “[The Sussexes] were supposed to be in the bus with all of the third-tier royals. And the reason why they were late for the appointed meeting at the Clarence House was to make sure that they would miss the bus so that they would appear later because you know processions are done in order of diminishing or increasing rank so the least important will go first and the most important will go last entering a building … They realized they had been lumped with the never-was royals so they decided they were going to be late and miss their slot.”

When they got to the church, the pair received quite a surprise though. Meghan and Harry had been accustomed to prime seating at events over the years but they were escorted to their seats in the middle of the second row.

According to royal biographer Tom Bower, Harry wasn’t happy with the seats and decided that he and Meghan should at least sit closest to the aisle so he asked Princess Beatrice to move down. The usher, however, told Harry that would not be possible, and when the prince demanded to know who gave that order the usher responded: “Your grandmother.”

Expert says Prince Harry’s ‘pain’ of realizing magnitude of family rift was on display

Longtime journalist Richard Kay recalled how Harry looked after his “public reality of having slid down the royal pecking order” and then having to wait “19 painful minutes” for the real stars of the show–Charles, Camilla, William, and Kate–to arrive.

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“As non-working royals, they are now very much in the second division,” Kay said via The Mirror . “And although spared the indignity of sharing the coach that brought a clutch of minor royals who similarly do not do official duties, such as Princess Michael of Kent’s son Lord Frederick Windsor, they were only just behind them.”

Kay added: “It was a painful 19 minutes before William and Kate arrived to take their seats. If the reality of his new life had escaped Prince Harry thus far, it must surely have sunk in then.”