HARRY’S 28-HOUR VISIT TO THE UK THE DUKE OF SUSSEX WHIRLWIND TRIP FOR CORONATION AS SON ARCHIE TURNS FOUR
REPORT: SALLY MORGAN
As flying visits go, the Duke of Sussex’s whirlwind stopover for the coronation of his father must have been one of the briefest royal round-trips in history.
In a journey that spanned two continents, crossed numerous time zones and covered more than 5,000 miles each way, Prince Harry’s whistle-stop stay was planned so that he could return home in time to celebrate another special occasion: his son Prince Archie’s fourth birthday, which fell on 6 May, the same day His Majesty was crowned.
His wife the Duchess stayed behind with Archie and 23-month-old Princess Lilibet, so Harry’s solo trip began when he waved his family goodbye at their Montecito mansion on Thursday afternoon.
MAD DASH
He was driven 100 miles to LAX airport in Los Angeles by his private security team, before taking a 12-hour overnight commercial flight on American Airlines to London’s Heathrow airport, landing at around 11.20am on Friday.
After setting foot on British soil, the Duke was assigned a Scotland Yard protection squad who escorted him to his accommodation. Harry is believed to have stayed at Frogmore Cottage, the Windsor residence where he and Meghan lived before moving to California.
At 9.30am on 6 May, a black BMW arrived to drive him to Westminster Abbey. Looking dapper in bespoke black morning dress teamed with a pearl-grey tie – designed by Dior’s artistic director Kim Jones – he arrived at the abbey at 10.38am, some ten minutes before the King and Queen.
As an army veteran, Harry, who served for ten years in the Blues and Royals and Army Air Corps and rose to the rank of captain, proudly pinned his Afghanistan service medal and Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee medals to his jacket. He wore his star as Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, which recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, on a blue silk ribbon around his neck and its badge on his breast.
RELAXED DEMEANOUR
Laughing and joking with his cousins Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and their husbands Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Jack Brooksbank on his way into the abbey, he also wished the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Justin Welby, who married Harry and Meghan at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle in 2018, “good luck”, to which the archbishop replied: “Thank you.”
The Duke smiled at members of the congregation as he strolled down the nave, before taking his allotted seat in the third row next to Jack.
It was Harry’s first public appearance alongside his f
