Prince Harry has been urged to stay away from Saturday's Trooping the Colour at Buckingham Palace after a Daily Express poll found that a heavy majority of respondents did not want the Duke of Sussex to attend the King's official birthday event. The survey, published ahead of this week's royal gathering, suggested there is little appetite among those readers for Harry to make his first appearance at the ceremony since 2019.
Prince Harry has not attended Trooping the Colour since before his move to the United States in 2020 and before he ceased to be regarded as a working member of the Royal Family.
Saturday's event is not just another royal outing. It is one of the biggest fixtures in the calendar, built around the annual procession and the Buckingham Palace balcony appearance that still carries its own peculiar weight in the monarchy's public theatre.
The numbers behind the row were striking enough to do what these things are designed to do, which is travel. Of the 4,910 people who voted in the Daily Express poll, 4,687 said Harry should stay away from this week's event. Just 205 backed the idea of him attending, while 18 said they did not know.
That works out at roughly 95 per cent of respondents opposing any return. A website poll is not a national vote, obviously, and it tells us more about the people moved to click than the country at large. Still, it is a revealing snapshot of the mood among at least one slice of royal watchers, and it is not exactly subtle.
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Some of the comments published alongside the result were blunter still. One reader wrote, 'No! He's no longer an active member of the Institution, so his presence at this event is unnecessary...' Another said, 'I don't think Harry should attend Trooping The Colour as he stood down from royal duties.' Crude, maybe, but clear.
Trooping the Colour has, in recent years, been framed more tightly around working royals, not the wider family circle. Harry's changed status sits at the centre of this story, whether his supporters like it or not.
He is still a prince, still the King's son, still unavoidable in any conversation about the modern monarchy. But the institution has been keen to draw lines, and these ceremonial appearances are where those lines become visible.
That is why his absence can feel almost as loud as an appearance. The King and Queen are expected to step out with fellow working royals after the procession, keeping the focus squarely on the core group the Palace wants the public to see. Harry, now living in the US, remains outside that picture.
Source: International Business Times UK
