London trip ups chances of Prince Harry attending coronation

Prince Harry's surprise visit to the U.K. last week has the British public convinced that he will be at King Charles III's coronation on May 6. The duke showed up at London's High Court to show his support for his privacy case against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) although his attendance was not needed.

The 38-year-old attended the four-day preliminary hearing and listened intently to the legal proceedings which will determine if the case will go to court or not. His presence was a surprise given his public qualms about returning to his home country over his lack of police protection. He was pictured arriving in court accompanied by his security detail.

But his unannounced visit to London has strengthened expectations that he will attend King Charles III's coronation at Westminster Abbey. British bookmakers at Sky Bet have given a 1/5 chance that he will be present and 10/3 that he won't. That means that 83.3 per cent believe he will attend the ceremony and 23.1 per cent believe that he will not.

The numbers show a significant leap from a survey conducted by the same bookmaker in March, which had 26.7 per cent saying he will not attend and 80 per cent saying he will.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle continue to have the public guessing about their appearance at the ceremony as they have yet to accept the invitation. A spokesperson for the couple confirmed that the duke received an email invite, but they have yet to confirm their attendance.

Back in January during his promotional interview for his memoir "Spare," the Duke of Sussex shared his doubt that the royals will invite him to the coronation. He told ITV's Tom Bradby that "there is a lot that can happen between now and then" and said the "ball is in their court."

But despite his criticism of the royal family and the institution in his book and in several interviews, his father still decided to invite him and his wife. But reports have it that their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, have not been invited.

Royal experts claimed that the Sussexes have a valid reason if they choose not to attend the coronation. May 6 is also their son's fourth birthday so they may just want to stay in California and celebrate his milestone instead of facing the scorn of the British public.

"There is no public enthusiasm for the Sussexes in Britain where their popularity has been low for many months as shown in the polls. There will be no enthusiasm if they attend," royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told Newsweek.

He said that if Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were to attend King Charles III's coronation, they would only "appear isolated." Although he believes that the couple "dare not miss" the ceremony since "it will be an event of global significance."

Fitzwilliams claimed that the Sussexes "have always been obsessed with controlling the public relations agenda" and cited the duke's surprise court appearance as an example. He thinks the public "will get more surprises" and noted, "bearing in mind his case against the publisher of the Daily Mirror begins on May 9, immediately after the weekend celebrating the coronation."

Buckingham Palace has yet to announce the official guest list for King Charles III's coronation. There will reportedly be 2,000 guests expected, a scale down from Queen Elizabeth II's coronation on June 2, 1953 which had roughly 8,000 guests. There have been calls for His Majesty not to invite Prince Harry and Meghan Markle but royal experts believe that he would want them there given that the ceremony will be a momentous occasion that he wants to share with all members of the royal family.