Prince Harry to attend King Charles's coronation but Meghan will stay in US

Prince Harry will attend the coronation of his father King Charles III at Westminster Abbey on May 6, Buckingham Palace announced on Wednesday.

But his wife Meghan and their children will not make the trip from their home in California, the palace added.

The news ends months of speculation about whether the couple would appear on the king's big day, but the Duchess of Sussex will undoubtedly be accused by some of snubbing the monarch and the royal family.

“Buckingham Palace is pleased to confirm that the Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on 6th May,” the palace said in a statement.

“The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.”

Archewell, the Sussexes' charitable foundation, issued a near identical statement to that of the palace confirming the duke would join guests at the coronation.

May 6 is also Prince Archie's fourth birthday.

Omid Scobie, a trusted contact of the couple, tweeted: "I understand that Archie's fourth birthday (also on May 6) played a factor in the couple's decision."

"Expect it to be a fairly quick trip to the UK for Prince Harry, who will only be attending the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey," he added.

Prince Harry's indecision about attending has been a particular concern for organisers who could not finalise seating arrangements, transport and security for VIPs.

Organisers were “exasperated” with the couple, who have publicly complained about the family over the past three years in a string of documentaries, interviews and a book, the Mirror reported.

The paper claimed the duke and duchess have been in “email correspondence” with the palace about their attendance, but the prince reportedly was in a “predicament” about whether or not to confirm their place.

Prince Harry’s attendance comes despite the family rift that was revealed in his bestselling book, Spare.

The revelations, including details of private conversations with his father and brother, Prince William, fanned tension.

Spare also included allegations that members of the royal family regularly feed the press unflattering information about other members of the House of Windsor in exchange for positive coverage of themselves.

Details of the coronation have been emerging as the date creeps closer.

Conservator Krista Blessley works on the restoration of the Coronation Chair at Westminster Abbey in London, before the coronation of King Charles III. All photos: PA
The chair was made around the year 1300 for King Edward I
Experts debate about when the chair was first used to crown a monarch: It had featured in coronation ceremonies since 1308 but the first confirmed use was to crown Henry IV in 1399
Ms Blessley has spent four months meticulously preserving the flaking gilding and cleaning the chair’s surface using sponges and cotton swabs
Much of the graffiti on the inside of the chair’s back rest was carved by Westminster schoolboys and visitors to Westminster Abbey during the 18th and 19th centuries
Pieces of wood were also taken as souvenirs and during a 1914 bomb attack, thought to be the work of the suffragettes, a small corner was knocked off

The procession after the ceremony will be significantly shorter than that of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The king’s coronation procession will be 2km — roughly a quarter of the queen's celebratory journey.

The newly crowned King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla will make their way back from Westminster Abbey on a tried and tested royal route.

They will travel through Parliament Square, along Whitehall, around Trafalgar Square, through Admiralty Arch, and down The Mall back to Buckingham Palace.

Queen Elizabeth's route was an 8km trip around central London, with the 27-year-old monarch waving to crowds along Piccadilly, Oxford Street and Regent Street.

More than 850 community and charity representatives from across the UK have been invited to the coronation.

Invitations to the May 6 service at Westminster Abbey in central London have been extended to more than 450 British Empire Medal recipients in recognition of their contributions to the country.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Gender pay parity on track in the UAE

The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.

"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."

Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.

"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.

As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.

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Prince Harry to attend King Charles's coronation but Meghan will stay in US

Couple's children Archie and Lilibet will also not make the transatlantic trip

Gender pay parity on track in the UAE

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