Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s final royal appearance marked one of the main events in the annual royal schedule.

After the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision to step down from royal duties in 2020, the pair were still tied to completing a number of key royal events before they officially departed for Canada.

During their final appearance at a ceremony to mark Commonwealth Day, the couple were reportedly “tense” and Prince Harry appeared to be “fighting back tears”.

At the four year anniversary of the Westminster Abbey appearance, analysis of the Prince’s statements since the event has provided new insight into the effect of the royal ‘snub’.

The experience appears to have continued to haunt the Duke of Sussex as he described feeling “distant” from other members of the Royal Family during the couple’s Netflix series, released in 2022.

Royal expert Robert Lacey wrote in his 2020 book Battle of Brothers that Meghan held her “best TV smile” throughout the ceremony, but Prince Harry appeared altogether more “tense and unsmiling”.

Lacey reported: “As the ceremony progressed, Harry appeared to grow gloomier.”

According to one observer, ‘his accelerated blinking even suggested he might have been fighting tears’.

The Westminster Abbey service marked the first time the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had seen many extended members of the Royal Family since the news had broken about their plans to depart.

In their Netflix series, Prince Harry said confessed the couple were “nervous [about] seeing the family”, largely due to the public glare around the prestigious event,

He added: “I felt really distant from the rest of my family, which was interesting because so much of how they operate is about what it looks like, rather than what it feels like.

“And it looked cold, but it also felt cold.”

This year, the Commonwealth Day service was missing several key faces, with King Charles and the Princess of Wales both undergoing treatment following cancer diagnoses.

Queen Camilla and the Prince of Wales were present, accompanied by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and The Princess Royal.

This year, marking the 75th anniversary of the Commonwealth, the theme was resilience and transformation.

King Charles, though unable to attend, issued a pre-recorded message which was played during the service.

The monarch said: “I have no doubt that we will continue to support one another across the Commonwealth as, together, we continue this vital journey.”