This weekend, ahead of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, the late monarch’s grandchildren stood around her coffin in Westminster Hall. The historic moment was the subject of drama as the palace went back and forth over whether or not Prince Harry could wear his military uniform as he is no longer a working royal.
When Harry and his wife Meghan Markle retired from royal working life, he was stripped of his honorary degrees, affecting his ability to wear his military uniform at official events. While palace officials reportedly initially banned Harry from wearing his uniform, they reversed the decision after it was revealed that an exception had been made to allow his uncle/notoriously disgraced royal Prince Andrew to wear his military uniform if he stood guard with the rest of the Queen’s children on Friday.
The reversal – first reported by The Mirror – follows Harry’s statement that his ‘military service is not determined by the uniform he wears’, but it is understood the Palace has given in to public sentiment after thousands spoke out over complained about the decision to ban him and not Prince Andrew,” royal correspondent and author Omi Scobie explained on Thursday on Twitter.
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Though Harry was eventually allowed to wear his military uniform for the occasion (supposedly at the request of his father, King Charles), there was still an obvious minor matter at play, as Harry discovered that the Queen’s initials, “ER,” had been removed from the patch on the shoulder of his jacket (but especially not off the shoulder of his brother William’s jacket).
Chris Jackson, Getty Images
According to a report by Britain’s Sunday Times royal correspondent Roya Nikkhah, Harry was “devastated” when the Queen’s initials were removed, to find that the Queen’s “ER” initials had been removed from the shoulder, and reportedly even considered not wearing his uniform for the vigil as a result.
“He’s heartbroken,” a friend of Harry’s told the Sunday Times (per Daily Beast). “Removing his grandmother’s initials feels very intentional.”
As Us Weekly reports, Buckingham Palace has not publicly explained why the Queen’s initials appear to have been removed from Harry’s uniform for the vigil.
Kayleigh Roberts Kayleigh Roberts is the weekend editor at Cosmo, focusing on celebrity news and royals.