On the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral today, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were greeted with boos and shouts as they attended a thanksgiving service for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
At the service, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex reconnected with the royal family, but they were separated from Prince William, Kate, Prince Charles, and Camilla.
Their entrance sparked outrage, with audio from the two live camera feeds of the service at St Paul’s revealing boos mixed in with shouts from the crowd outside.
Sky’s Kay Burley was unsure whether there were “more cheers or more jeers,” but MailOnline’s man on the ground heard both cheers and whistles.
AFP video of the couple exiting the service, though, showed some audible booing mixed in with more encouraging remarks.
Others remarked that the applause for Prince William and Kate was “by far the largest of the day.”
‘There was a raucous reaction from the crowd to Harry and Meghan’s arrival: a combination of booing and cheers,’ royal writer Richard Palmer said.
‘By the time the Sussexes reached the top of the steps, what had seemed like a divided reaction had evolved into a distinct cheer,’ according to our outside writer.
Outside St Paul’s, ITV Royal Editor Chris Ship said the crowd’s reaction was “majority cheering with some booing.”
Sky News commentator Rhiannon Mills, also at the scene, said: ‘We were debating how many boos, how many cheers but I think also when you compared it to later arrivals there was a mixed reaction to them.
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Despite the fact that they have expressed their deep admiration for the Queen and that they are still in communication with her, and the Queen has repeatedly stated that they are highly loved members of the family, the assembled throng plainly had mixed views about their presence.’
‘I’m not sure what all the bogus news is about,’ one royal enthusiast stated. At St Paul’s Cathedral, there were both boos and applause for Prince Harry and Meghan. It wasn’t a case of one extreme or the other.’
Journalists from Reuters and the Associated Press reported hearing both cheers and jeers outside St Paul’s.
Members of the audience outside St Paul’s Cathedral echoed the mixed reaction to Harry and Meghan in their comments.
Natalie works as a cell phone operator.
‘I assume they came here for their own goals,’ said Christopher Matthews, 56, a retired engineer from Knutsford, Cheshire. And that is to be a member of the Royal family when they so desire.
‘Wasn’t it supposed to be a documentary?’ They won’t be able to stop talking about it, I’m sure.
‘By opting out, they could have done a lot of damage to the Royal family, but happily, Her Majesty managed to keep things together.’
‘Never complain, never explain is her approach,’ he remarked when asked if The Queen would have liked the couple not to come. She is the only one who knows. Harry and Meghan, on the other hand, will never be the same.’
‘Family is family no matter what,’ Mel Quash, from Cheshunt, added.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were at St Paul’s Cathedral for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Service of Thanksgiving, but royal advisers stage-managed them to sit on the opposite side of the aisle from William and Kate.
Buckingham Palace officials took great care to avoid a repeat of the tense situations that occurred when the Sussexes and Cambridges sat next to one other and departed Westminster Abbey together in March 2020.
Given the efforts to ensure that today’s service in front of 2,000 privileged guests was about the Queen and her 70-year reign, aides would have been overjoyed that no such incident or negative ‘optics’ occurred.
Prince Charles and Camilla chatted with Kate and William.
Harry and William have had a long-standing feud, while Harry has accused his father Charles of cutting him off financially and Meghan claimed an unnamed royal made a comment about Archie’s skin tone before he was born – with the Sussexes having a war of words with the Palace following last year’s bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview.
Today, at the funeral in London, which began at 11.30 a.m., Charles formally represented the 96-year-old king. Following a last-minute decision announced by Buckingham Palace at 7.30pm yesterday, the Queen missed the historic ceremony after experiencing ‘discomfort’ during Trooping The Colour festivities earlier in the day.
Prince Andrew did not make an appearance at St Paul’s after testing positive for coronavirus earlier this week. The service was carried on BBC One, and the Queen viewed it from her Windsor Castle residence.
After the service, Harry and Megan walked down the aisle of St Paul’s hand-in-hand, followed by other members of the royal family including Charles and Camilla, but did not accompany them outside.
The Sussexes turned to speak with Lady Sarah Chatto and her husband Daniel Chatto, who had been seated close to Meghan. Senior clerics waited to bid the crowd farewell, and Meghan had a joke with the Archbishop of York before touching Harry’s arm. The Sussexes then moved on after the trio laughed.
While waiting for the Royal Family to leave at the end of the ceremony, members of the throng outside St Paul’s sung the National Anthem, before Charles and Camilla became the first to leave as the bells began to toll.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were next, with Kate waving to the fans and conversing with her husband. The Duke and Duchess of Bedford
Before getting into a car, Harry and Meghan exchanged handshakes with the Lord Mayor.
The Sussexes are not expected to attend a reception at the nearby Guildhall, which will also be attended by other members of the Royal Family and senior politicians such as Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel.
Former Lord Mayor Sir David Wootton and Colonel Simon Duckworth greeted the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall as they arrived at the event. Then came William and Kate, who were right behind them.
The Earl and Countess of Wessex, as well as Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and their husbands, are among those in attendance. Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and Viscount Severn, the Wessexes’ children, arrived.
Former Prime Minister Theresa May and Health Secretary Sajid Javid
The buffet offered a variety of delicacies, including coronation chicken with grapes and rice salad. There was a selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages available, including English sparkling wine and wines from Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand, as well as a cranberry bellini.