Prince Harry's children have not yet been invited to Coronation
The children of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, are not currently invited to the Coronation, The Telegraph understands.
Prince Harry and Meghan were invited in recent weeks, but it is understood that correspondence from Buckingham Palace did not mention Archie or Lilibet.
The couple have had no information about whether the children, who are aged three and one, have been included in the plans.
The Sussexes have not yet confirmed whether or not they will attend the ceremony crowning King Charles III at Westminster Abbey on May 6.
They are currently weighing up the logistics, as well as debating the more personal implications and the optics of each potential option in the context of a deep family rift.
The couple were told that the potential inclusion of the young prince and princess will be discussed if and when they confirm their own attendance, friends suggested.
They could either come together, Prince Harry could attend alone or they could both opt to stay away.
With planning well under way and every element, from cars to the seating plans, needing careful preparation, organisers at Buckingham Palace are working on the basis that the couple will attend.
A royal source acknowledged that it was “always easier” to make provision for guests who then do not turn up, rather than insert them into the programme further down the line.
Regardless of whether the Sussexes do want to bring their children, any preemptive decision to exclude them will cause further friction between the two sides of the family, only serving to fuel the Sussexes’ long-held belief that they have always played second fiddle.
Asked if Archie and Lilibet were invited, one royal source simply noted that they were “very young”.
The pair’s decision to use their childrens’ prince and princess titles indicates that they are keen to maintain a tangible link to the British monarchy.
An appearance at such a historic royal occasion may prove hard to resist, and would boost their star power in the eyes of the US public.
Prince George, nine, and Princess Charlotte, who turns eight just days before the coronation, are expected to attend, with the future King expected to take on an official role.
The Prince and Princess of Wales are still “pondering” whether to take the lively Prince Louis, who turns five next month, but they are thought likely to include him.
It comes after it emerged that the Queen Consort’s grandchildren will also have an official role at the ceremony.
Her son, Tom Parker Bowles, has two children aged 15 and 13 and her daughter, Laura Lopes, has a 15-year-old daughter and twins aged 13.
Camilla was reportedly keen for the teenagers to carry the canopy that is placed over her during the anointing, but Buckingham Palace swiftly quashed the suggestion.
It is thought instead that the boys may be pages.
A royal source stressed recently that it would be “wholly improper” to be having discussions about a potential role for Camilla’s grandchildren and not the King’s.
Yet if Archie and Lilibet do not fly from California for the ceremony, the monarch will be flanked by his grandchildren from only one side of the family.
They will be notable absentees from official records and the portraits that capture the moment for the history books.
The King was four when he attended his own mother’s coronation in 1953, but he did not stay for the entire three-hour ceremony.
His sister, Princess Anne, who was two at the time, did not go, but appeared alongside the family in official portraits taken afterwards at Buckingham Palace.
Now that the Sussexes have been asked to vacate Frogmore Cottage, their Windsor home, they are considered less likely to return to the UK in the future.
It raises the prospect that the King will have no tangible relationship with his two youngest grandchildren, who he met for the first time when they flew over for the Platinum Jubilee last June.
