Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Not Invited to King Charles' Birthday

By Michael Hein

The British royal family is hosting its first major event since the coronation this weekend, but Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were reportedly not invited. The monarchy is holding its annual "Trooping the Colour" event to celebrate King Charles III's birthday – complete with a parade in London. Sources close to the family told reporters from PEOPLE that the king's younger son and his wife were not invited to attend.

Trooping the Colour is a tradition dating back to at least the 1600s in the U.K., though during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II it was simply known as the "Queen's Birthday Parade." It typically involves troops from the British Army marching in the streets and the monarch bestowing honors on some veterans. This will be the first such parade since the queen passed away and King Charles took the throne, as well as the first major royal event since his coronation last month. Harry attended the coronation by himself making as minimal an appearance as possible, but he will not be at Saturday's event at all.

Buckingham Palace did not respond to a request for comment by PEOPLE about the lack of invitation for Harry and Markle, and they did not respond with a comment on the subject either. The two live in California full-time now, and with two young children trips to the U.K. are no small feat. Harry traveled to the coronation alone and he actually traveled to the U.K. alone last week as well so that he could appear in court in his ongoing lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers.

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It's not clear who is avoiding whom in this situation, as the Duke of Sussex may not be interested in attending his father's birthday party based on everything we've heard from him over the last few months. After the release of his memoir Spare, a source close to him told PEOPLE that the prince wanted to attend the coronation with his family but he wanted to have a "sit-down" meeting with his father and his older brother first. He hoped that they could address some of the issues raised in the book and in other public forums privately before making a big public appearance. Insiders say that meeting never materialized.

Trooping the Colour took place in London on Saturday, June 17 marking the king's birthday, though he was actually born on Nov. 14, 1948. The king will turn 75 later this year.

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