Prince Harry laughs in his seat at St Paul’s while Prince William appears awkward at service  

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were seated a long distance away from Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge at St Paul’s this afternoon – as the two feuding brothers adopted strikingly different demeanors. 

The eyes of the world were on the Sussexes at the Platinum Jubilee thanksgiving service this morning as they joined hundreds of politicians and dignitaries in supporting the Queen and the extended Royal family.

Harry, 37, was pictured smiling and bantering with his fellow royals as he spoke with Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and their husbands next to his wife Meghan, while Prince William and Kate were more reserved as they took their seats for the Jubilee ceremony. 

The couple, who flew in from their California home for the Jubilee celebrations, were one of the first of the royals to arrive at the cathedral today, with Meghan donning a cream coat dress and matching hat, while Harry wore a smart suit adorned with his medals. 

Harry has reportedly hardly seen his father and brother since he emigrated to California with his wife Meghan, who has also ‘not made contact’. 

Meanwhile, the Duke of Cambridge was not pictured smiling throughout the ceremony and did not exchange words with his brother. 

A photo of Harry and Meghan, 40, leaving Westminster Abbey after the Commonwealth Service in March 2020 – was the couple’s final outing as frontline royals – laid bare the rift their decision to quit had caused. 

Since that glacial moment, they have used Oprah Winfrey, US TV news stations and friendly podcasts to fire transatlantic potshots, including claims one senior member was racist and that Buckingham Palace aides ignored Meghan when she was suicidal while pregnant. Harry also accused Prince Charles of cutting him off financially.

The brothers last saw each other in July, for the unveiling of a Kensington Palace statue in memory of their mother, Princess Diana. At the time, sources claimed a ‘furious’ Prince William did not want to attend the event, after the Oprah interview in March last year. 

The couple have now marked their first event in two years alongside the Royal Family since they stepped down as working royals.

Harry and Meghan previously told the Queen they will keep a low profile during the Jubilee celebrations and will only take part in official engagements – Her Majesty ‘ordered the family to come together’ with ‘no dramas’ to overshadow the events.

Prince Charles is officially representing the 96-year-old monarch at the service in London this morning after the Queen pulled out due to mobility issues.

Her Majesty missed the event following a last-minute decision announced by Buckingham Palace at 7.30pm yesterday after she experienced ‘discomfort’ during Trooping The Colour events yesterday.

There was also no appearance at St Paul’s from Prince Andrew after he tested positive for coronavirus. The Queen instead watched the service from her Berkshire residence, which was broadcast nationally on BBC One.

Political guests arrived ahead of the royals, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie, former prime minister Sir Tony Blair and his wife Cherie, Sir John Major and other ex-prime ministers Gordon Brown, Theresa May and David Cameron, and their spouses. Cabinet ministers Sajid Javid and Liz Truss were also in attendance.

Soon after, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon arrived with her husband, and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. Members of the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force lined up on either side of the Great West Door.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had seats in the second row of the congregation, with Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and their husbands, and Lady Sarah Chatto, the daughter of Princess Margaret, and her family.

Harry and Meghan were seated behind the Earl and Countess of Wessex who are in the front row with their children, Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and Viscount Severn, and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.

Across the aisle, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, who have ornate chairs, had seats alongside them for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess Royal and her husband, Vice Admiral Tim Laurence.

Earlier, a member of the Royal Air Force in the military guard of honour lining the steps to St Paul’s collapsed, but was able to get to his feet and was helped away. Then, a second member of the military personnel also collapsed, but was also able to get to his feet and was helped away on foot, despite a stretcher being brought out. 

The Queen is understood to have had episodic mobility issues yesterday – and, in a statement, Buckingham Palace revealed the Queen ‘greatly enjoyed’ her birthday parade and flypast but ‘did experience some discomfort’.

It said: ‘Taking into account the journey and activity required to participate in tomorrow’s National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, Her Majesty, with great reluctance, has concluded that she will not attend.’

It is understood the decision ahead of the service, which begins at 11.30am today, was considered regrettable but sensible due to the length of the journey and time involved and the physical demands the service would require.

Senior members of the monarchy attending this morning also include the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who will be joined by the extended royal family.

Tributes will be paid to the Queen’s ’70 years of faithful and dedicated service’ in front of 2,000 people including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Cabinet ministers, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and former prime ministers.

Public service is the theme at the heart of the religious event, with 400 people who are recipients of honours, including NHS and key workers who were recognised for their work during the pandemic, invited.

The Archbishop of York, the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, will deliver the sermon to the congregation after stepping in at the 11th hour after the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, contracted Covid-19.

Hundreds of people gathered outside St Paul’s, some wearing Union flag hats and others hanging flags and bunting over the railings on the approach to the cathedral – and many guests had their photographs taken outside the Great West Door, where members of the Royal family are also due to enter the cathedral for the event.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan was cheered as he passed by the crowds already amassing outside, although the numbers appeared to be smaller than those seen at the Trooping the Colour festivities yesterday.

Today will be a first joint engagement with senior royals for Meghan and Harry since the frosty Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey in March 2020 shortly before they officially stepped down as senior royals.

And while the couple are set to remain below radar in public, the Queen had lunch with them and other senior royals behind closed doors yesterday – and also met her great-granddaughter Lilibet for the first time.

The Sussexes introduced their little girl to the Queen – nicknamed Lilibet as a child – yesterday at Windsor after attending a private Royal Family lunch at Buckingham Palace following Trooping the Colour.

Harry and Meghan are expected to remain mostly low-profile over the four-day Jubilee weekend, with no sign of the Netflix cameras that followed them around at the Invictus Games in the Netherlands in April.

The Sussexes, who are staying at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor while visiting from California, were not allowed on the Buckingham Palace balcony yesterday and instead watched proceedings from Horse Guards Parade.

Meanwhile key workers, charity volunteers and members of the armed forces have been invited to the Queen’s service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s today in recognition of their contribution to public life.

More than 400 people, who have been making a difference either nationally or locally, are among the guests and many have been working tirelessly during the pandemic.

They will join members of the royal family at St Paul’s Cathedral to celebrate the monarch’s 70-year reign, although the Queen herself will not attend after experiencing ‘some discomfort’ during Thursday’s events following previous mobility issues.

The Bishop of London said today that she is ‘excited’ ahead of the thanksgiving service. Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally, who will be leading the blessing at St Paul’s, told BBC Breakfast: ‘I’m excited, I think.’ 

She added that she was nervous about the ceremonial regalia she needs to wear. ‘It’s a coat called the George V coat.

‘It’s quite an old coat, which is a cape and it sits on me, but of course it was designed for men because I’m the first woman who happens to be the Bishop of London,’ she said. ‘So, it doesn’t sit quite as well on me, so I’m slightly nervous.’

She said that Her Majesty’s Christian faith has ‘always shaped her’ and she feels privileged to play a part in the service and ‘give thanks’ to The Queen for her service to the country.

And the Dean of St Paul’s said today’s thanksgiving service represents the nation ‘picking up the baton’ from The Queen as a thank you for her years of service.

The Very Revd Dr David Ison told BBC Breakfast: ‘I think, for me, what this service is about, is saying not only thank you, but also we are picking up the baton of what The Queen has done. We ourselves are committing to how we can make the world a better place.’

He said of the service: ‘I always get nervous. You can’t help it because you want it to go well and therefore you’re nervous to make sure it does goes well and worried about what might go wrong.’

He also spoke about an incident during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee when his cape ripped.

‘I put on my cape and I was bounding down the stairs of the vestry and I caught the cape on the door latch and ripped it and this is in the afternoon, before the service.

‘So, they had an emergency embroiderer who came in early in the morning to stitch it back up again.’

Later, Dr David will say in The Bidding: ‘We come together in this Cathedral Church today to offer to God our thanks and praise for the reign of Her Majesty the Queen and especially for her 70 years of faithful and dedicated service.

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