At this Tuesday's thanksgiving celebration in memory of Prince Philip's life, a familiar face to the late Duke of Edinburgh, who died last April at age 99 after 73 years of marriage to the Queen, will be absent: it is Prince Harry, one of Prince Philip's grandchildren.

As Marie Claire previously reported, Harry attended his grandfather's funeral last year, but will not be at Philip's memorial service, which ended when Harry and his wife Meghan Markle stepped down as active members of the royal family in January 2020, presumably because they lost taxpayer-funded police protection will not return to the UK.

And this decision to miss Philip's memorial service could worsen relations between the Duke of Sussex and the royal family, royal expert Robert Jobson told Us Weekly.

"It's [disappointing] because there doesn't seem to be any serious reason why he can't attend," Jobson said. 'He will be going to Holland for the Invictus Games shortly after this.'

Memorial services are held to honor and pay tribute to Philip by people outside of his family, including representatives of the many charities and organizations with which the Duke of Edinburgh worked throughout his long life. COVID restrictions at the time limited Philip's funeral last April to just 30 people.

In January 2022, Harry applied for a judicial review of the Home Office's decision that he could not personally fund police protection for his family - his wife Megan, son Archie, and daughter Lili - while in the UK. In the United States, where the Sussex family now resides, Harry and Meghan personally pay for the security team.

In a statement released by Harry's legal spokesman at the time of the application to the Home Office, Harry's team argued that "Harry's role within the royal family has changed, but his profile as a member of the royal family has not. Nor have the threats to him and his family changed". As a result, Harry's private protection team "has been unable to replicate the police protection required during his stay in the UK, and without such protection, Prince Harry and his family cannot return home."

And despite security concerns, Jobson, author of Prince Philip's Century: The Extraordinary Life of the Duke of Edinburgh, also said that Harry's absence from the service He stated that it would be "disrespectful" for him to miss the service.

"I think any young man, especially one so well led by the Duke of Edinburgh, should be [there]," Jobson said. Harry's attendance would also show "respect" to the queen for the loss of her beloved, but "[Queen Elizabeth] would know that Philip and Harry had a wonderful relationship," Jobson said.