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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Los Angeles National Cemetery on Remembrance Sunday 2020(Image: Getty Images)
Prince Harry was left “saddened and disappointed” to not to have had a wreath laid on his behalf at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday, according to a royal book.
The Duke of Sussex ’s request for his tribute to be laid at the London memorial five years ago in 2020 was refused, despite Harry having served for 10 years in the military, including two tours of Afghanistan. The request came just months after Harry and Meghan quit their royal duties and relocated to California. When the Sussexes announced they would be leaving the Firm, Harry was stripped of his military posts, including his role as Captain General of the Royal Marines.
It was reported at the time Harry’s wreath had been made but after his request was refused, it lay unused in a box at the Royal British Legion’s Kent HQ . In Harry and Meghan’s unauthorised biography, Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, it is claimed his request was denied because he was no longer a “frontline royal”.
A source close to Harry told the authors he was “saddened and disappointed by the decision”. They added: “Ten years of service and a lifetime commitment to the military community and this is how it’s been acknowledged by his family.”
Instead, Harry and Meghan chose to pay their own tribute and were snapped laying a wreath at the Los Angeles National Cemetery and placing flowers on the graves of two Commonwealth soldiers.
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Harry had served 10 years in the Army and carried out two tours of duty in Afghanistan(Image: Getty Images)
The wreath was inscribed: “In Memory of the Men Who Offered Their Lives in Defense of Their Country”. On it, Harry had written: “To all those who have served, and are serving. Thank you.”
Royal author Robert Lacey also wrote of the late Queen’s decision to deny Harry’s request to have the wreath laid, as he argued most people would consider Harry’s request to have a wreath laid on his behalf perfectly reasonable and a mark of respect but the Queen is said to have rejected the request as soon as it reached her attention.
“It took her ‘all of two seconds’ to issue a refusal,” Lacey writes, referring to an article by royal editor Rebecca English. The article stated the Cenotaph ceremony was “sacrosanct” to the Queen, who ensured nothing happened without her knowledge.
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Prince Harry’s letter on a wreath of poppies (Image: PA)
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The tribute was left at the Burma Star Memorial on the 80th anniversary of VJ Day(Image: PA)
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While Harry’s grandmother hugely admired her grandson’s military achievements, his request to lay a wreath, or have one laid on his behalf, showed “a lack of understanding of what it means for him to be a non-working royal”, Lacey’s book Battle of Brothers says.
The author went on to claim that Harry’s seemingly small request showed he “had still not grasped the consequences of his momentous choice to sign off from royal duties.”
In contrast to Harry’s request in 2020, earlier this year, Prince Harry placed a secret letter paying tribute to Second World War veterans at a national memorial – hours after a visit from King Charles and Queen Camilla .
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On the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, the King led an emotional ceremony at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. Just hours later, Harry also paid a touching tribute to the veterans by having a personal letter and wreath placed at the Burma Star Memorial at the same location.
In the letter, which was attached to a poppy wreath, included his royal emblem and was signed Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, he paid tribute to all that fought in the war, including his late grandfather, Prince Philip , who served in the Far East.
