Prince Harry and Meghan Markle make final royal appearance
- Couple joined Queen Elizabeth and others from the Windsor clan at Westminster Abbey for annual Commonwealth Day service
- No handshakes at pomp-filled event, apparently due to coronavirus concerns
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, made their final appearance as senior royals at Westminster Abbey, joining Queen Elizabeth and other members of Britain’s royal family on Monday for an annual Commonwealth Day service.
The televised event is expected to be the last time the couple works alongside the entire Windsor clan before Harry and Meghan fly off into self-imposed exile in North America. The pomp-filled observance featured no handshaking, apparently because of the new coronavirus.
The service ended the two-month drama that began when the couple announced plans to walk away from their roles as senior members of the royal family and into a world where they will have to earn a living. It is uncharted territory for the House of Windsor, which only has the messy abdication of Edward VIII in 1936 as a guide to the potential pitfalls.
“[The Windsors] have lost a major attraction for the future,’’ said Pauline Maclaran, co-author of Royal Fever: The British Monarchy in Consumer Culture.
The Commonwealth service is a major event on the royal calendar, largely because the 93-year-old monarch has embraced the organisation for much of her life. She became head of the network of 54 countries in 1952, when she was 26.
The queen has long considered supporting good relations among Commonwealth members to be her own particular political project, said Philip Murphy, the director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the School of Advanced Study at the University of London.