The Duke of Sussex attended a separate ceremony in Brackley hours after King Charles, Prince William and Catherine led the royal commemoration in London. A prominent royal commentator called the move a threat to the monarchy’s credibility

Prince Harry’s separate Remembrance Sunday appearance has revived questions about the Sussexes’ place in Britain’s royal landscape, with one prominent commentator accusing the couple of building an alternative royal platform that could undermine the monarchy.

The criticism centers on the Duke of Sussex’s decision to attend a commemorative service in Brackley, Northamptonshire, on Sunday, just hours after King Charles, Prince William and Catherine took part in the traditional ceremony at London’s Cenotaph. Harry’s absence from the capital was not unusual: the London event is reserved for members of the royal family carrying out official duties.

But his military record has made the distinction more contentious. Harry served in the armed forces for 10 years, placing him among only two members of the royal family to have seen active service. The other is Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, whose presence at the Cenotaph, royal commentator Richard Eden noted, would be even less welcome.

Speaking on Palace Confidential, Eden, editor of the Daily Mail Diary, argued that Harry’s appearance in Brackley illustrated a problem he had repeatedly raised: the emergence of what he described as an “alternative royal family.”

Eden said the arrangement had been less troubling when Harry and Meghan were living in California, where their distance from the official royal calendar offered a clear explanation for their separate public appearances. Their presence in Britain, he argued, changes the perception of those events, particularly when they attract media attention.

“I think it’s embarrassing,” Eden said, accusing the couple of seeking publicity through independently organized engagements. He argued that such appearances risk damaging the credibility of the institution they remain closely associated with.

The commentator went further, describing the photographs of Harry at the Brackley service as appearing to be a “provocation” against the royal family. His objection was not simply that the duke had attended a separate remembrance event, but that the Sussexes’ public activities could create the impression of a competing royal operation alongside the institution represented in London by the king and the working royals.

Harry’s participation in Brackley thus became the focus of a dispute over more than the ceremony itself: who represents the monarchy in public, and how the Sussexes’ independent role is perceived while they remain outside its official duties.

(Photo: © AndKronos)