Celebrity
Prince Harry news: reason why Duke of Sussex missed wedding of close friend despite being in London
Prince Harry was a notable absence at the wedding of his close friend, Charles, Lord Vivian, despite being in the UK at the time of the nuptials.
The Duke of Sussex was in London for a court appeal over his security arrangements in the UK, which were revoked when he resigned as a senior working member of the British royal family.
And that is also the reason why he didn’t attend the wedding, according to a source who told People Harry, 40, didn’t join in on celebrations, because security wouldn’t have been provided.
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Royal reporter Richard Eden spoke with Lord Vivian, who confirmed Harry had been invited to his wedding.
When asked why his friend had failed to attend, Lord Vivian answered: “I don’t know. He has a lot on,” Daily Mail reports.
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Lord Vivian wed US compliance director Saweda Kamara at Chelsea Old Town Hall. The 58-year-old groom was a guest and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding in May 2018 and featured in a photo with Harry and his “band of brothers” UK friends in the Netflix series Harry & Meghan.
This isn’t the first wedding of a close friend Harry has missed in the UK.
He also failed to attend the wedding of Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster in June 2024, who is godfather to Harry and Meghan’s son Prince Archie, five.
Grosvenor has been close with both Harry and Prince William since childhood.
However William did attend the nuptials, serving as usher at Chester Cathedral. Princess Eugenie was also present at the event.
An insider told People at the time there was an “understanding between the two friends” as to the difficulty Harry would have faced attending, and the pair came to a decision mutually.
At the time it wasn’t known the difficulty was due to security concerns or Harry’s fractured relationship with his brother, or a combination of both.
The insider told the publication the Duke of Sussex sent “his love and support and admiration for the couple” at the time.
Prince Harry arrived in the UK on April 6, appearing in London two days later for the proceedings at the Court of Appeal over his battle for security in his home country.
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Following Harry and Meghan’s resignation as senior working royals, the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (RAVEC) stripped Harry’s automatic right to police security in the country,.
A judge upheld the government and RAVEC’s decision to downgrade Prince Harry’s security last year, a decision Harry is now appealing.
The royal’s lawyer, Shadeed Fatima KC, argued that the UK government’s security committee failed to properly assess threats to Harry and his family and bypassed the Risk Management Board when making it’s decision.
He claimed the RAVEC “diverted” from its usual process and imposed a “bespoke” arrangement on the royal.
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The Home Office argued that RAVEC was entitled to tailor a different approach for Harry based on his specific circumstances, which they say was better suited for the situation.
The Duke of Sussex’s legal team previously said that he “does not feel safe” bringing his family to the UK due to the lack of security.
Harry also arrived in the UK just a few hours before his father, King Charles, departed for a four-day state visit to Italy with wife Queen Camilla.
It’s not known if the father and son met in the short overlap they had.
Prince Harry arrived at court with a small security detail supplemented with court officers. He waved to cameras before disappearing into a private entrance.
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