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King Charles III will mark his coronation—the first held in Britain in seven decades—on May 6, 2023 in a religious service steeped in over a thousand years of history.
The date for the coronation is significant for a number of reasons. It comes before the royals' busiest month of June and means that the new king will be crowned before he takes his first Trooping the Colour as sovereign, with a parade that marks his first official birthday.
May 6 is significant for another more personal reason to the house of Windsor. It also marks the birthday of King Charles' youngest grandson, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor who will turn four next year.
This may provide Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with a reason not to attend the king's coronation after a period of strained relations with the royal family which has been compounded by complaints lodged in their hit Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan which aired in December.
In the series, the couple—in particular Harry—made a number of revelations relating to his relationship with his family both before and after he and Meghan moved with their young family to the U.S. and stepped down from their working roles within the monarchy.
In a fraught meeting about the Sussexes future roles in January 2020, the prince told viewers that his brother Prince William had screamed and shouted at him and that his father, the now king, had told lies while Queen Elizabeth II sat watching on.
Harry and Meghan reunited with the royals in September 2022 to mourn the queen's death, being photographed with William, Kate Middleton and Charles for the first time since moving to the U.S. Whether the same royal reunion will take place for the coronation in May remains to be seen.
If reports that the king will extend his youngest son and daughter-in-law invitations to the biggest ceremonial day of his life materialize, then it throws up a series of unique hurdles for the prince, not least the prospect of not being able to properly celebrate his son's birthday, but also that he could be asked to swear public allegiance to his father as part of the ceremony.
When he married Meghan in 2018, his grandmother the queen granted Harry the royal dukedom of Sussex. In the hierarchical system of British society, royal dukes stand above all other titles of nobility, including regular dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts and lords.
A royal dukedom is bestowed by the monarch on a member of their family and is hereditary, meaning it is passed down from the barer to their heirs. Traditionally, royal dukes have played a senior role in the coronations of monarch's leading members of the aristocracy in the swearing of an oath.
When Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953, there were three royal dukes who took part in the coronation ceremony; the Duke of Edinburgh (her husband Prince Philip), the Duke of Gloucester (her uncle) and the Duke of Kent (cousin).
The dukes all approached the queen after her crowning at Westminster Abbey in front of the congregation, kneeled and said these words: "I [insert name] Duke of [geographical area], do become your liege man of life and limb, and of earthly worship; and faith and truth will I bear unto you, to live and die, against all manner of folks. So help me God."
The dukes then each kissed the queen on the cheek and touched St Edward's crown. This same form was followed at previous coronations.
Today there are five royal dukes; Prince William who in addition to being Prince of Wales, is also Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge; Prince Harry the Duke of Sussex; Prince Andrew the Duke of York; Prince Richard the Duke of Gloucester and Prince Edward the Duke of Kent.
If King Charles' coronation follows this form then it is also likely that his siblings, Princess Anne the Princess Royal and Prince Edward the Earl of Wessex will also pay their homage.
At the time of the coronation's announcement, Buckingham Palace said: "The Coronation will reflect the monarch's role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry." This, therefore, could potentially see the elimination of the homage of the royal dukes.
There has been much speculation about the relationship between Prince Harry and his father, added to by the prince's comments to Oprah Winfrey in 2021 that for a period of time surrounding his exit from the royal fold, Charles stopped taking his calls.
In the Harry & Meghan docuseries, the prince said he was ready to move on from royal dramas, but admitted that he had also moved past hoping that he'd get a genuine apology from his father and brother for what has transpired between them.
"You know, I've had to make peace with the fact that we're probably not gonna get genuine accountability or a genuine apology," he said. "You know, my wife and I, we're moving on. We're focused on what's coming next."
On the couple's likelihood of attending the May coronation, royal expert Richard Fitzwilliam told Newsweek that a royal rapprochement may still be some way off.
"It has been reported that the Sussexes want a summit and an apology from the royal family which addresses the concerns they aired in their recent Netflix docuseries, before attending King Charles's coronation," he said.
"This is highly unlikely to happen. With Harry's memoir due in early January and an interview with CBS scheduled to take place beforehand, their relationship with the royal family is likely to remain fractious."
On whether there is a real prospect of Harry swearing his allegiance to Charles during the coronation, Fitzwilliams said: "We don't know the details of the ceremony yet, although its religious core is likely to be unchanged. There will be considerable interest in what part, if any, the Sussexes will play in it."
Newsweek approached Buckingham Palace and representatives for Prince Harry for comment.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more