Prince Harry was reportedly left feeling saddened and disappointed after a personal request to have a wreath laid on his behalf at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday in 2020 was denied by the Royal Family.
The Rejected Tribute
The Duke of Sussex, who served for ten years in the British Army including two tours of duty in Afghanistan, made the request just months after he and Meghan Markle stepped down as senior working royals and relocated to the United States. This period also saw Harry being stripped of his honorary military titles, such as Captain General of the Royal Marines.
According to revelations in the unauthorised biography Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, the request was refused because Harry was no longer considered a frontline royal. A source close to the Prince told the authors, "Ten years of service and a lifetime commitment to the military community and this is how it’s been acknowledged by his family."
It was further reported that the wreath Harry had commissioned was actually made but subsequently lay unused in a box at the Royal British Legion's headquarters in Kent after the request was rejected.
A Personal Gesture in Los Angeles
Instead of participating in the London ceremony, the Sussexes paid their own respects on the same day at the Los Angeles National Cemetery. Photographs showed the couple laying a wreath and placing flowers on the graves of two Commonwealth soldiers.
The poignant tribute was inscribed with the words, "In Memory of the Men Who Offered Their Lives in Defense of Their Country." Harry had personally written on it: "To all those who have served, and are serving. Thank you."
The Queen's Swift Decision
Royal historian Robert Lacey detailed the event in his book Battle of Brothers, stating that the late Queen Elizabeth II rejected Harry's appeal almost immediately. Lacey, referencing an article by royal editor Rebecca English, wrote that it took the monarch "all of two seconds" to issue a refusal.
The author explained that the Cenotaph service was considered sacrosanct by the Queen, who maintained strict control over every aspect. Lacey suggested that Harry's request demonstrated he had "still not grasped the consequences of his momentous choice to sign off from royal duties" and showed a "lack of understanding of what it means for him to be a non-working royal."
In a contrasting act of remembrance years later, Prince Harry placed a secret letter and a wreath at the Burma Star Memorial in Staffordshire on the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, paying tribute to World War Two veterans, including his late grandfather, Prince Philip.
