Prince Harry and Meghan Markle invited 600 guests to their royal wedding in May, but some of the Duke's cousins did not make the cut. On Saturday, the newlyweds were reunited with their distant relatives as the royal family gathered at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the Queen's official birthday – Trooping the Colour.
The royals made their traditional appearance on the palace balcony, with Meghan making her debut as the new Duchess of Sussex. Also standing on the balcony were Harry's cousins Lady Gabriella Windsor, Lord and Lady Frederick Windsor – all of whom were noticeably absent from the royal wedding.
Harry and Meghan had chosen to invite their closest members of the royal family to the wedding – the Prince's first cousins, aunts and uncles. Harry's younger, more distant relations did not secure an invite, but their grandparents, such as the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, who are first cousins with the Queen, did.
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© Photo: PALady Frederick Windsor (right) was not invited to the royal wedding
Harry's royal first cousins who did make the cut included Mike and Zara Tindall, who was heavily pregnant with her second child, and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. Zara's older brother Peter Phillips and his wife Autumn were also among the 600 guests at St George's Chapel. On his mother Princess Diana's side, Harry also extended an invite to his first cousins Lady Kitty Spencer, Lady Eliza Spencer and Louis Spencer – Charles Spencer's children with his first wife Victoria.
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On Saturday, there was no awkwardness as Harry was reunited with his distant relatives. The family focused on celebrating the Queen, who was marking her official birthday. Her actual birthday was in April, but the monarch traditionally celebrates for a second time in the warmer month of June. At the event, Her Majesty took part in a carriage procession and military parade down the Mall, before watching the RAF flypast from the Buckingham Palace balcony.
