Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were not more visible at the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations as they knew they wouldn't have centre stage seats, a royal expert has said.
The couple only attended one Jubilee event publicly - the service of thanksgiving at St Paul's last Friday.
They were sat in the second row of the cathedral and across the aisle from Prince William and his wife Kate, with the couples not acknowledging each other or exchanging eye contact.
Apart from being glimpsed at Trooping the Colour last Thursday, Harry and Meghan were not seen at any other royals events and even left to travel back home to California before Sunday's Jubilee Pageant ended.
And according to expert and royal editor of Vanity Fair, Katie Nicholl, this could have been because they knew they would have front row seats in the royal box for the Pageant.
She told True Royalty TV's The Royal Beat: “I honestly think it’s [because].... they knew that they wouldn’t be in that front row. And why did they leave the Royal Family?
Love the royals? Sign up for the Mirror's daily newsletter to get all the latest news on the Queen, Charles, Kate, Wills, Meghan, Harry and the rest of The Firm. Click here to sign up .
"They left because they weren’t in the front row. I believe that’s why they weren't at the other celebrations as they did not have centre stage seats.”
Her comments come after fellow royal expert and biographer Duncan Larcombe claimed Harry will be haunted by the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations for the rest of his life.
He pointed to the the fact that Harry and Meghan and their family flew home to California before the festivities ended, saying it was very telling.
Duncan explained: "Those four days will haunt Prince Harry for the rest of his life.
"They [The Duke and Duchess of Sussex] were relegated to sitting behind the Duke of Gloucester.
"They didn't take part in any way, shape or form visibly at the Trooping of the Colour and fair play to them.
"You can take your pick with things they were excluded from this weekend, whether they excluded themselves or not, they flew home on a private jet before the thing had even finished.
"That you could say was just them being respectful of not stealing the limelight but that will not be how Prince Harry sees it.
"He will be fuming about the way he and his family were treated - if it was the Royal Family who said, ‘you’re not coming to the royal box’, 'you are not going to sit there while the likes of Mike Tindall and other minor non-working royals were there."
The Royal Beat - available on True Royalty TV.
