Prince Harry the Dutch of Sussex and Prince Andrew the Dutch of York, did not join in a salute to the Queen’s coffin because they are no longer working royals.
Both Prince Harry and Prince Andrew were not allowed to participate in saluting the Queen’s coffin during the state funeral proceedings following their previous exemption from royal duties.
King Charles III led his family and several servicemen and women in saluting the Queen’s coffin outside Westminster Abbey and again before the coffin was transported from Wellington Arch in central London to Windsor.
Harry and Andrew despite dressing in mourning suits, were not given a chance to offer a salute as it is a custom and duty reserved only for those in uniform.
The King and other senior royals including Prince William, Prince Edward, and Princess Anne, who were all in military uniform, saluted the coffin but the Duke of York and the Duke of Sussex stood still with their arms firmly by their sides.
The princess of Sussex and Princess of York were dressed in traditional mourning suits, having been forbidden from wearing their military uniforms to the majority of ceremonial events as they are no longer working royals.
Prince Harry previously cited that he did not want discussion involving his outfit to take away from honoring his grandmother’s life and service during the period of mourning.
His spokesperson reported that the Prince will wear a mourning suit throughout events honoring his grandmother.
“His decade of military service is not determined by the uniform he wears and we respectfully ask that focus remains on the life and legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.”
Harry and Andrew both received special permission from the King to wear their military uniforms while they stood vigil around the Queen’s coffin as it was lying in state in Westminster Hall last week.
Prince Harry who served in Afghanistan as an army officer for 10 years was allowed to wear his Blues and Royals No.1 uniform during the grandchildren’s vigil on Saturday evening.
But the Duke of Sussex is reported to have been left upset after the Queen’s ER (Elizabeth Regina) initials were removed from the shoulder of his military uniform. The aiguillettes ornamental braided cord that goes hand in hand with the cipher had also been removed.
Andrew was allowed to keep the royal cipher and aiguillettes during the vigil by the Queen’s children the previous night.
Prince Harry was stripped of his military titles after leaving the fold as a working royal in 2020 and moving to the United States with his wife, Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex.
The Duke of Sussex has several medals, which he wore on his mourning suit, including the KCVO Neck Order and Star, an Afghanistan Operational Service Medal; Golden, Diamond, and Platinum Jubilee medals; and Army Pilot Wings.
Prince Harry last wore a military uniform in public before Saturday’s vigil was March 2020, when he appeared alongside the Duchess of Sussex at the Mountbatten Festival of Music at the Royal Albert Hall, wearing a bright red Royal Marines officer’s mess jacket.
Prince Harry was allowed to wear his military uniform for the grandchildren’s vigil.
The Duke of York was permitted a special exception to wearing his Naval uniform at the children’s vigil on Friday as a ‘special mark of respect’, despite stepping back from his royal duties in 2019.
He served as a Vice Admiral in the Royal Navy but stopped wearing the uniform in public after he was pushed to quit royal duties in May 2020 over his relationship with a sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
He was stripped of his military titles, royal titles, and his Royal privileges in January. The Duke solved a civil action brought by Virginia Roberts Guiffre, who accused the Duke of sexually abusing her on three occasions when she was 17.
The death of the Queen has placed Harry’s relationship with the royal family firmly back under the spotlight. The Duke of Sussex has been away from his brother after stepping down as a working royal.
But the Princes walked together behind the Queen’s coffin during processions through London and also greeted mourners outside Windsor Castle together with their wives only days after their grandmother had passed.
During the funeral service at Westminster Abbey, Prince Harry sat in the second row, next to the Duchess of Sussex and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, directly behind King Charles.
The front row comprised the King, Queen Consort Camilla, Princess Anne, her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, the Duke of York, and the Earl and Countess of Wessex.
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The Prince and Princess of Wales sat across the aisle with their children, Prince George, and Princess Charlotte. Peter Phillips, Zara Tindall, and her husband Mike sat next to them.
