King Charles and Princess Anne appeared in high spirits as they stepped out to attend the traditional Sunday morning service. Brother and sister are spending their Sunday together in Sandringham and were photographed walking the short distance between the royal residence in Norfolk and St Mary Magdalene Church.
The pair smiled at royal fans they encountered on their way to the chapel, and King Charles even seemed to crack a joke with some of the onlookers while passing by.
Neither Queen Camilla, Charles’s wife, nor Sir Timothy Laurence, Anne’s husband, seemed to have joined the two royals for their walk.
Following the service, Charles was given a bouquet of flowers by a well-wisher and stopped to speak with some of the fans.
This public appearance comes following claims that King Charles asked Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to broker a deal with Prince Harry so that the fifth-in-line to the throne can attend his Coronation in May.
A source claimed to the Mail on Sunday: “The issue of substance is whether [the Duke and Duchess of Sussex] attend the Coronation and if they do, under what terms and conditions.
“The family is split, and all the indications are that Harry is being advised to agree to nothing at this stage and ‘play it long’ right up to the last minute, which is making negotiations with him very difficult.
“Harry’s camp made it clear that the idea that he would just attend the Coronation and behave himself but then be stripped of his titles was a total non-starter.
“While he might decide at some point to discard his titles of his own volition, he objects to the idea of being forcibly stripped of them.”
King Charles reportedly wants his son to attend the historic event and believes more attention would be drawn to the Sussexes’ absence than to their presence at Westminster Abbey in four months.
READ MORE: King Charles ‘in talks to do landmark interview about Harry row’
The first Coronation in Britain in seven decades will take place on May 6, and will be the main event during a weekend filled with celebrations.
Buckingham Palace announced earlier this month Britons can look forward to three days of street parties, royal appearances and a star-studded concert at Windsor Castle.
Little is known at the moment about what the Coronation service will include, with the Palace only saying so far tradition and modernity will both find a place during the ceremony.
Queen Camilla will be crowned next to her husband Charles – but what crown will be used by the Archbishop is not yet known.
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Similarly, the guest list is still shrouded in mystery. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s unofficial biographer Omid Scobie said in a recent podcast that he doesn’t believe the Sussexes themselves already know whether they will attend the event.
Appearing on the YouTube channel titled Common Sense, Mr Scobie said: “I honestly think people don’t even know whether Harry and Meghan are going because I don’t think they know whether they are going or not.”
In an interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby released to promote his memoir Spare, Harry said when asked whether he would return to the UK for the Coronation of his father: “There’s a lot that can happen between now and then. But, you know, the the door is always open.
“The – the ball is in their court. There’s a lot to be discussed and I really hope that they can – that they are willing to sit down and talk about it because there’s a lot that’s happened in six years. And prior to that as well.”
