Harry and Meghan urged to stay away from King Charles' coronation

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been advised not to attend King Charles’ coronation.

The 74-year-old royal took the throne in September following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth, but will formally be crowned in an official ceremony in May next year, but historians, politicians and other experts have suggested the monarch’s youngest son, Prince Harry, and his wife Meghan, would be better off not attending the formal event following their criticisms of the royal family and life in the U.K. which they laid bare in their new Netflix docuseries, Harry and Meghan, when it was released this week.

Former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith told the Mail on Sunday newspaper: “If they dislike the Royal Family so much why would they attend the Coronation?”

And fellow Tory David Mellor added: “They shouldn’t come to the Coronation. They categorically shouldn’t come.

“They make money out of selling their family down the river. I think it should be made clear that the British people do not want them there.

“(People) would be perfectly entitled to boo if the couple did turn up. They are a sad pair and there is no hope for them on their current course.”

Historian Lord Andrew Roberts said there are precedents for excluding the couple if they were deemed to be a “distraction.”

He said: “Queen Caroline wasn’t invited to George IV’s Coronation, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor weren’t at George VI’s in 1937, and Elizabeth II’s German relations weren’t invited in 1953, so there’s plenty of precedent for not inviting people who would be a distraction to and detraction from the focus of the great day.”

And former head of royal protection Dai Davies warned there could be a security risk to serving members of the family if Harry and Meghan – who live in California with their children Archie, three, and 18-month-old Lili – decided to attend.

He said: “I feel very strongly about this. We don’t know what poison will come out next, but when considering what has been said, be it half-truth, lie or mockery of the Royal Family, how can anyone want them to be invited to the Coronation?

“The presentation of the monarchy and the Commonwealth as being racist is an insult to Britain and Britons.

“This also gives rise to a very serious security issue.

“The false narrative presented in this series could give rise to people with a fixation on the Royal Family to enact their fantasies.”