Will Prince Harry and Meghan Markle be warmly received at the coronation?

You might think that the attendance of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the coronation of his father King Charles III is a tad controversial. After all, hasn't Harry spent the last few months, courtesy of his memoir 'Spare' and TV interviews, telling us how awful his time in 'the firm' has been and what freedom he has been searching for and finally found with Meghan?

Yes, yes he has.

A few things can be true at the same time, though. While Harry has craved freedom from British royal life, he has never said he believes in abolishing the monarchy. In fact, his book 'Spare' says that, "My problem has never been with the monarchy, not the concept of monarchy. It’s been with the press and the sick relationship evolved between it and the Palace."

Now, part of that relationship has been called out by Harry in his memoir when he discusses his step-mother, Camilla, and her perceived briefings with the press.

As Harry and Meghan have received an invitation to the coronation on May 6 2023, apparently via email, we look at how their presence at Charles' special day could be received.

Will the US-based couple receive a warm reception like a cheesy baked egg - apparently Charles' favourite brunch - or a cold, inhospitable reception, like the one that Harry's nether regions endured during a trip to the North Pole?

Let's begin with Papa Charles. A man known for his love of organic gardening, who has been rumoured to speak to his plants to encourage growth and who won't eat meat or fish for a few days of the week to limit his carbon footprint, King Charles III is certainly a sensitive soul who through his lottery of birth has been thrust into a tricky family dynamic.

Charles loves his younger son, Harry, as much as he loves his older son, William. Loyalties have been tested over the years, particularly as Charles was determined to marry his long-term partner and one-time mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles. Does Charles want Harry and Meghan at his coronation? Absolutely.

It could prove a distraction from Charles on his big day if the couple are in attendance, but that would also be true if they did not attend. There will be speculation and heightened attention no matter which decision Harry and Meghan make on being at the coronation. Through their own media interviews, such as Oprah in 2021, the couple have laid the foundations for their own awkward encounters on a world stage.

That's not to say they weren't within their rights to speak their own truth. However, these truths are often subjective and everyone within a family will have different points of view on how events have gone down.

That leads on to Camilla, described by Harry as recently as January as "the villain". Can you expect a warm reception from your stepmother when you've called her a villain? Erm, no.

Harry exposed his belief that she'd briefed against him in the media to ensure more favourable media attention for herself. We can imagine that Camilla will be less than thrilled to see Harry and Meghan in person, although the aristocracy is very good at painting huge polite grins over everything. The pomp and ceremony of the occasion will also keep Harry and Camilla at a wide berth from each other, if Harry and Meghan do attend.

Camilla now has her grandchildren involved in the ceremony on 6 May where she is anointed and becomes Queen. This is to emphasis her closeness with her own family. Camilla doesn't seem like a woman who spends too much time thinking of the opinion of Harry and Meghan. She maybe feels the victory has been her's for a good few years, after marrying Charles in 2005.

And what of Harry's brother, William? We can assume, from William's gesture to greet well-wishers before the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and inviting Harry and Meghan to join him and Kate, that the older brother of the outspoken 'spare heir' still has some brotherly love there.

You might guess this goodwill has run out since the memoir was released and Harry's TV interviews detailing an alleged physical altercation between him and William. Brothers will always clash though, and often physically, and there's nothing more relatable to the public than sibling arguments.

William needs Harry for his own PR machine. Harry may have used up his 'fun, easygoing, prince' reputation and replaced it with something less palatable, but the older generations of the public remember the late Diana, mother of the heir and spare. The public craves seeing these two brothers get along. William knows this. Harry knows this. They both have a shared experience that no one in the world can understand. There's always a way back for this brotherly relationship.

William is reportedly very angry and disappointed with Harry, this makes sense. Harry, however, is awaiting an apology, from his family and from the institution he believes failed him and his wife, Meghan. There's plenty of anger and heartache all round.

Kate, ever the professional, will manage smiles and small gestures of goodwill towards the couple, if they are seen at the coronation. Could she happily never see the pair again? It's a tough one to call.

Having the public aware of her text messages with Meghan over the bridesmaid dresses debacle will have really rankled Kate as she usually enjoys a very cosy public persona. She's held to higher standards. Kate has never put a foot wrong, and therefore any slight slipping of the mask is leapt on as a bigger transgression than it probably would be for anyone else.

The people who will certainly show Harry and Meghan a warm reception must be the cousins. Eugenie and Beatrice, daughters of Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew, have enjoyed a good relationship with Harry and Meghan. Eugenie, in particular, gets on well with the couple, and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, seems to, as well.

Eugenie and Jack even took on the rental of Frogmore Cottage after Harry and Meghan left the UK in January 2020, which allowed the cottage to be maintained and ready for the couple to return if they needed a base back in the UK. Eugenie has visited Harry in the states and most recently was rumoured to be with them in the US as the Frogmore Cottage eviction saga rumbled on in early March. Eugenie and Jack brought along some of the belongings they had left in the Windsor-based cottage.

Beatrice has also stayed on good terms with Harry. Both sisters may be recognising the difficult family dynamics are bigger than their own dilemmas. Eugenie and Beatrice have had to cope with their disgraced father being put through the media mill as he was accused of sexual assault. Prince Andrew has always denied these accusations.

Harry has probably offered friendship to the sisters over the years and all three of them will understand press intrusion and scrutiny. Meghan's glamorous background in acting and Hollywood connections will appeal to any young person and Eugenie and Beatrice will have given a warm welcome to someone they may have already admired from the TV show, Suits.

Their mother, Sarah Ferguson, is a complicating factor when it comes to a warm reception or not for Harry and Meghan. She has claimed recently, during publicity for her new romantic novel, 'A Most Intriguing Lady', that she has no judgement towards the pair.

"I don’t believe that any single person has the right to judge another person. I’m not in a position to make any judgements. I have been judged all my life, and I have no judgement on the Sussexes."

However, despite these magnanimous words of Sarah, who is often known as Fergie, she has also said she 'doesn't really know' Meghan. This is confusing since the two women have met on many occasions and Fergie even taught Meghan how to do a curtesy before she met the Queen for the first time.

Another cousin of Harry's, Zara Tindall, will no doubt make the couple feel welcome. Zara and her husband, Mike, were seen waiting for Harry and Meghan to exit the church after the Queen's funeral in September 2022. The mother of Zara, Princess Anne, is a no-nonsense, practical kind of woman and would put any personal misgivings aside to ensure an affable reception for Harry and Meghan. She was the Queen's only daughter and very close to her mother. She would know that her mum would want the family to get along above all else and would no doubt channel that if the couple did go to the coronation.

Prince Andrew? Well, he'll be glad of a media distraction from his own plight. The whole saga from Harry and Meghan has eased the media spotlight from the disgraced Duke of York. The couple won't be seeking uncle Andy's approval, that much is sure.

Uncle Edward and his wife, Sophie? According to recent reports, Sophie is glad of her new title as it means she won't have to curtsy to Meghan if they are at the 6 May event. The couple are now the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, inheriting the title from the late Prince Philip who wanted his youngest child to have it. This new name puts them above Harry and Meghan in terms of royal titles who are known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Of course, Harry and Meghan may just stay at home in California and watch all of this play out on TV. It's also the birthday of their oldest child, Archie, so birthday celebrations for his fourth birthday could be in full swing.