Snubbed again? Harry and Meghan’s second row seats raise questions but placed them closer to queen’s coffin

The inevitable fuss about seating arrangements and possible snubs at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral Monday has arisen, with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle getting seats in the second row, and President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden ending up 14 rows back — behind the president of Poland.

As details became available later Monday about the seating arrangements for the 2,000 mourners attending the queen’s funeral at Westminster Abbey, news outlets mulled over some of the curious choices made about where different dignitaries would sit.

The Daily Beast and other news outlets said that Harry and Meghan were facing yet another act of being sidelined since the queen’s Sept. 8 death because they didn’t get front-row seats. The front row was occupied by King Charles III, Camilla, the queen consort, Charles’ three siblings, and Prince William and his family.

Harry and Meghan have faced several incidents over the past 10 days that have either been interpreted as snubs or as the expected consequence of their acrimonious departure from royal life and move to California in 2020. Among other things, Harry, an Afghanistan war veteran who spent 10 years in the army, was denied the privilege of wearing his military uniform to the funeral, unlike other senior members of the royal family who never saw active service.

Over the weekend, it also emerged that an error led to Harry and Meghan being wrongly invited to a state reception for world leaders and foreign royals Sunday night at Buckingham Palace. The Telegraph reported that palace aides subsequently declared that only working members of the royal family would attend. The Sussexes were told Friday night that there had been a mix-up and they were not actually invited to what was designated as an “official state event.”

While the front-row seats at the funeral also were said to be reserved for working royals, people noted that disgraced Prince Andrew was there, and he stopped being a working royal because of the scandal involving sexual abuse allegations against him and his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to The Telegraph. However, Andrew is the queen’s son, and therefore has played a prominent role at events over the past 10 days.

Possibly more concerning for Sussex supporters is that Princess Anne’s son, Peter Phillips, her daughter, Zara Tindall and Zara’s husband, Mike Tindall, got front row seats, next to William and Kate and their children, George and Charlotte, The Telegraph said.

Then again, Harry and Meghan were given seats directly behind Charles and Camilla, even though the couple reportedly have a tense relationship with his father and stepmother. There are concerns in the royal family that Harry will cast Charles and Camilla in a negative light in his upcoming memoir, which has reportedly been delayed until 2023, out of respect for his late grandmother.

But in getting seats behind Charles and Camilla, who occupied ornate chairs at the very front of Westminster Abbey, the Sussexes still enjoyed a prominent place at the funeral, even closer to the queen’s coffin than most others, The Telegraph reported. So perhaps there was no snub.

Meghan, seated next to Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, also appeared to wipe away a tear as she watched the queen’s coffin being carried out of Westminster Abbey.

It may be harder to explain why Biden, the leader of the free world, and his wife ended up in the 14th row. The Daily Mail reported that the seating plan was drawn up under strict royal protocol, which apparently means that royals from other countries were seated closer to the front. For example, the Emperor and Empress of Japan were seated in the 6th row, behind European royals and the King of Jordan, the Daily Mail said.