Last Thursday, Prince Harry presented an award to an American veteran named Elizabeth Marks. Harry is friends with Sergeant First Class Marks – I remember being so moved by her story, which I heard because she was an Invictus competitor. Back in 2016, Harry presented her with a medal for Invictus, and she immediately wanted to donate the medal to raise funds for the British hospital where she had been treated. Harry respects the hell out of her. Well, Sgt. Marks was given the Soldier of the Year award by the Military Times last week, and they asked Harry to present the award remotely, from his home. Harry wore a dark suit and his British medals, per the Telegraph: his Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan, his Golden Jubilee Medal, Diamond Jubilee Medal, and Platinum Jubilee Medal.
Can you even imagine finding fault with any part of this? If you can, you’re part of the deranger contingent in the British media. They’re simultaneously mad that Harry wore his British medals for an American presentation to an American AND they’re mad that Harry isn’t wearing his coronation medal.
The Duke of Sussex appears to have snubbed his father by opting not to wear his Coronation medal alongside others as he presented a military award. Prince Harry donned four medals to record a video of himself honouring a soldier from the back door of his California home but the one featuring effigies of the King and Queen was notably absent.
His spokesperson declined to comment on why he did not wear the Coronation medal that is believed to have been awarded to him on his father’s accession last year.
The medal, made of nickel silver, was given to 400 recipients involved in the Coronation ceremonies and processions as well as serving members of the Armed Forces and emergency service workers.
Similarly, Harry did not wear the medal when he delivered a video monologue for Stand Up For Heroes in New York last November. Relations between the Duke and the King remain strained, although is believed to have improved.
I know we’re supposed to say “good for him, I hope he IS snubbing his father.” But ten bucks says that Harry probably didn’t even get the coronation medal. His dogsh-t father evicted Harry from his home, yanked his security and had concerns about how dark Harry’s children would be. That man did not give his ginger son a coronation medal.
I also looked through the photo archives of Harry’s military-adjacent or state-function appearances in the past two years – these are the same medals he’s worn to everything. He wore the same medal setup to the Jubbly church service in June 2022. He wore the same medals to his grandmother’s funeral. He wore the same medals to his father’s coronation, and he wore the same medals to the Stand Up for Heroes remote appearance last year. What’s more likely: that Harry is making a conscious effort to snub his father specifically with which medals he wears OR that he just has a medal bar with everything organized and he just wears the same bar every time?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, screepcaps from The Telegraph & Stand Up to Heroes.