There is a notable absence in King Charles’ visit to the U.S.: the king’s younger son, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Charles and Queen Camilla’s itinerary for their four-day state visit is packed. The most prominent items on the agenda are the king’s address to Congress and the state dinner Tuesday in Washington. But there was also tea with President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, a tour of the White House beehives and a garden-party reception at the British ambassador’s residence on Monday. While the schedule will take the royal couple to New York and Virginia for events, including a wreath-laying at the 9/11 memorial, there is nothing scheduled for California, where Harry, Meghan and their children live. There are several reasons for this. Family fracture Harry and Meghan made global headlines in 2020 when they announced they were stepping back from their roles as “working royals.” The changes that followed included the couple losing access to their taxpayer-funded security details. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, Meghan talked about her mental health challenges amid palace life and said a royal relative — whom she did not name — asked during her first pregnancy about the likely skin color of her unborn child. Buckingham Palace responded with a statement on behalf of Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, then the monarch: The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and…
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