KING TO TAKE 'MORAL HIGH GROUND' AT THE CORONATION AND GIVE INVITES TO SUSSEXES AND ANDREW

King Charles will "take the moral high ground" when deciding whether the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Prince Andrew should be part of the historic balcony appearance scheduled for moments after his coronation, a royal commentator has claimed. The possibility of Prince Harry and Meghan's attendance at the coronation has become a hotly debated topic after the royal's recent memoir revealed striking personal details about the family and criticised the Firm.

Prince Andrew has also stepped back from royal duties after allegations of sexual abuse which the Queen's son has strongly denied.

Daily Express royal correspondent Richard Palmer has predicted Andrew and the Sussexes would be invited to the coronation - but, crucially, not onto the balcony.

During Express.co.uk's Royal Round Up, he told Pandora Forsyth: "My guess is the King will take the moral high ground, whatever the state of his relationships with the Sussexes and his brother Andrew at that point, and invite them all to the coronation."

However, the new monarch was likely to follow in his mother's footsteps when it came to establishing who would appear with the senior members of the family in Buckingham Palace after the big event, Mr Palmer predicted.

The Queen specifically designated the spots for royals who were actively working - which precludes the appearance of both Andrew and the Sussexes, with the former having to take a backseat following the scandal in his personal life and the latter choosing to revoke their roles in the family.

He explained: "We saw at the Platinum jubilee the Queen break with the order of precedence in the seating arrangements at St Paul's Cathedral, where the working royals were given precedence.

"They were given front row seats, and the Sussexes and those who don't have official duties were relegated to seats behind. That would be my guess for how things will work this time round. I don't believe that there will be a place for the Sussexes or the Duke of York on the balcony."

The King has maintained silence in response to the claims made by Prince Harry and Meghan across their various media appearances - with the strategy being no different regarding what Mr Palmer described as the "thorny question" of the balcony appearance.

Kensington and Buckingham Palace have refused to comment on anything contained in Harry's book, which is in keeping with their maxim of "never complain, never explain" and not sharing their opinions, leaving official communications to speak out on matters.

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Historian David Starkey has described King Charles III's silence towards his son as a "clever long game".

He told The Mirror: "What I think Charles is doing is actually playing a rather clever long game. He's just letting events take their course, which I think is a very wise thing to do."

In a poll that ran from 11am on Tuesday, January 3rd to 1.30pm on Friday, January 6, Express.co.uk asked readers: "Is it time for Royal Family to speak out ahead of next 'explosive' Harry interview?" - to which the overwhelming majority (78 percent, or 4,706 people) responded "No."

Meghan's biographer Omid Scobie attacked the family for their silence, however, writing for Yahoo!: "While it may be true that Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace have chosen not to answer requests for comment from journalists (including myself) about the revelations in Spare, in my experience of royal reporting the reality of the institution's silence might not be quite what it seems.

"Despite the tired 'never complain, never explain' facade, an assortment of Royal Family sources and friends have all been busy speaking to media outlets since the contents of the book first leaked to British newspapers ahead of its 10 January debut.

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"Whilst these sources may be speaking out entirely independently, given how tight knit the Royal Family inner circle is, I doubt they would speak to the media without at least some form of tacit approval from the royals."

But Mr Scobie admitted the "silence" from the Royal Family over the claims from Harry "seems to be working". In an interview with CBS' Anderson Cooper, Prince Harry said: "at some point silence becomes betrayal."

He was not clear about whether he would want to attend the coronation if he was invited, however, saying: "There's a lot that can happen between now and then. But you know, the door is always open. The ball is in their court.

"There is a lot to be discussed and I really hope that they are willing to sit down and talk about it."

2023-01-26T21:15:06Z dg43tfdfdgfd