Prince Harry won’t commit to King Charles’ coronation: ‘Ball is in their court’
Prince Harry was given the chance to verbally commit to attending King Charles III’s coronation in May — but the duke refused.
“There’s a lot that can happen between now and then,” the former military pilot told Tom Bradby in Thursday’s trailer for his upcoming ITV interview.
“But, the door is always open,” the 38-year-old continued. “The ball is in their court.
“There’s a lot to be discussed and I really hope that they’re willing to sit down and talk about it.”
In the candid conversation, which will air on Jan. 8 ahead of Harry’s memoir “Spare” hitting shelves, the royal defended writing the tell-all.
“I don’t know how staying silent is ever going to make things better,” the Duke of Sussex said, adding that critics “don’t understand” his motives.
Elsewhere in the clip, Harry confirmed that, “yes,” he still believes in the monarchy, but he is unsure whether he will “play a part in its future.”
Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped back from their royal duties in January 2020 and made their exits official in February of the following year.
Since then, the couple have spoken out against the royal family in a March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, as well as a Netflix docuseries, “Harry & Meghan,” which aired last month.
“Spare” will be released on Jan. 10 and has been pitched by publisher Penguin Random House as a “remarkably personal and emotionally powerful story.”
Excerpts of the memoir were leaked on Wednesday, with one passage obtained by The Guardian describing an alleged physical altercation between Harry and Prince William over Markle.
“He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor,” the younger sibling writes of the 2019 incident, claiming that he “landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under” his back and cut into him.
Harry also alleges in “Spare” that William, 40, and Kate Middleton told him to wear the Nazi costume he donned at a 2005 costume party, sources revealed to Page Six.
“I phoned Willy and Kate, asked what they thought. Nazi uniform [over a pilot uniform], they said,” Harry writes. “They both howled.”
Despite familial tension, Harry and Markle have both been back to England since their exit, most recently for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.
Reports surfaced in December 2021 that Charles, 74, did invite the pair to his upcoming coronation.
The event, during which the sovereign will be crowned, is set to take place on Harry’s son Archie’s 4th birthday.