Prince Harry was reportedly left “saddened and disappointed” after the royal family “denied” his request to have a wreath laid on his behalf at the Cenotaph during Remembrance Sunday in 2020. The decision, revealed in the royal biography “Finding Freedom” by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, came just months after Harry and Meghan Markle stepped down from their royal duties and relocated to California. Despite his decade of service in the British Army, including two tours in Afghanistan, the duke’s appeal was turned down because he was no longer a “frontline royal.”
Royal family ‘denied’ Prince Harry’s 2020 request to have wreath laid on his behalf, per source
According to The Mirror, Prince Harry’s wreath had already been prepared before the request was refused. However, after the denial, the floral tribute remained boxed at the Royal British Legion’s headquarters in Kent. The Duke of York, who served as Captain General of the Royal Marines before being stripped of his honorary military titles, had hoped to honor fallen soldiers alongside other members of the royal family at London’s Cenotaph.
A source close to Harry told the book’s authors, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, that he felt deeply hurt by the decision. “Ten years of service and a lifetime commitment to the military community and this is how it’s been acknowledged by his family,” the insider said. Unable to participate in the U.K. ceremony, Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, chose to commemorate Remembrance Sunday in their own way.
The couple was photographed visiting the Los Angeles National Cemetery, where they laid a wreath and placed flowers on the graves of two Commonwealth soldiers. The wreath bore the inscription, “In Memory of the Men Who Offered Their Lives in Defense of Their Country.” Harry added his own message, writing, “To all those who have served, and are serving. Thank you.”
Royal historian Robert Lacey revealed in his book Battle of Brothers that Queen Elizabeth II personally rejected Harry’s request almost immediately. Citing royal correspondent Rebecca English, Lacey wrote that the late queen viewed the Cenotaph ceremony as “sacrosanct” and insisted that nothing took place there without her direct approval.
“It took her ‘all of two seconds’ to issue a refusal,” Lacey claimed. She further noted that while the monarch deeply respected her grandson’s military achievements, she believed his appeal reflected “a lack of understanding of what it means for him to be a non-working royal.”
