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TL; DR: 

  • Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sat in the second row at a National Service of Thanksgiving during Platinum Jubilee weekend in June 2022. 
  • Author Tom Bower’s claimed Prince Harry asked an usher who approved the seating arrangement; “Your grandmother,” the usher replied, according to Bower. 
  • Per a royal expert, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry ended their Platinum Jubilee weekend visit early because of seating. 
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry walk to their second row seats at a national service of thanksgiving during platinum jubilee weekend
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry | Aaron Chown – WPA Pool/Getty Images

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s second-row seats at a Platinum Jubilee service sparked a question. According to royal biographer Tom Bower, the Duke of Sussex asked who OK’d the seating arrangement. He supposedly got a brief answer involving Queen Elizabeth II. Later, the couple cut Platinum Jubilee weekend short, which a royal expert attributed to seating. 

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry sat in the second row at a June 3 National Service of Thanksgiving honoring Queen Elizabeth

After staying largely out of the spotlight during Trooping the Colour, Harry and Meghan attended an official Platinum Jubilee event on June 3, 2022. They arrived at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, England, for a National Service of Thanksgiving honoring Queen Elizabeth.  

The couple walked up the steps and into the church doing their signature hand-holding PDA. An usher escorted them to their seats in the second row next to Princesses Beatrice, Eugenie, and their husbands. 

Notably, Eugenie and Beatrice didn’t move down to make room for Harry and Meghan at the end. A tell-tale sign the seats were assigned, according to a royal commentator. 

Meanwhile, Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Charles, and Camilla Parker Bowles sat in the front row on the opposite side of the church. 

When the 50-minute service ended, the order of the exits kept Harry separated from his father and brother. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge appeared to share their thoughts on the jubilee service with each other as they left. As for Harry and Meghan, they briefly spoke to Harry’s cousin, Zara Tindall, on the church steps.

An usher said Queen Elizabeth approved the Platinum Jubilee service seating arrangements, according to Tom Bower

Bower, the author of Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors, discussed the jubilee service seating arrangement during a  GB News appearance. He said Queen Elizabeth gave the go-ahead to put Harry and Meghan in the second row because she didn’t want them to distract from the event. 

“What was a really remarkable story I heard, was that Meghan and Harry were late to get to St Paul’s Cathedral deliberately so that they could make their own grand entrance,” Bower said.

“As they’re walking down the aisle and they get to their seats nine and 10, they say, ‘well, everyone should move up so that we can be on the aisle itself.’ ‘No’ says the usher,” he continued. “‘No, you’re to sit [in] nine and 10.'”

“’Who told you to tell me where to sit?'” Harry asked, according to Bower. “‘Your grandmother,’ says the usher.” 

A royal expert thinks the Sussexes left Platinum Jubilee weekend early because of the seating arrangements

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, who sat in the second row and, according to Tom Bower, wondered who approved the seats, smile and wave as they enter St. Paul's Cathedral for a national service of thanksgiving
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry | Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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Platinum Jubilee weekend ended on June 5, 2022, with a pageant in front of Buckingham Palace. However, Harry and Meghan skipped the event. They weren’t in the royal box alongside a sugared-up Prince Louis and other royals. Instead, reports had them — and their two children — already headed back to Montecito, California. 

The reason? Royal expert and Vanity Fair royal editor Katie Nicholl attributed the early exit to seating arrangements. “I honestly think it’s [because] … they knew that they wouldn’t be in that front row,” Nicholl told True Royalty TV’s The Royal Beat. 

“Why did they leave the Royal Family?” she asked. “They left because they weren’t in the front row. I believe that’s why they weren’t at the other celebrations as they did not have [sic] centre stage seats.”