Prince Harry sidestepped questions about his uncle Earl Spencer’s explosive memoir during his first public appearance since returning to the UK with Meghan, although he acknowledged that the past few weeks had been “eventful”.
The Duke of Sussex appeared cheerful at the inaugural Invictus Spirit Awards, held at the historic Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich last night, as tensions continued to grow following the bitter exchange of words involving King Charles and Diana’s brother.
However, Harry’s expression became more serious when a reporter called out on the red carpet: “Harry, Harry, how are you feeling about your uncle’s book?”
Although he appeared to hear the question, the Duke continued looking straight ahead and placed his arms around the shoulders of two veterans. His wife Meghan did not attend the event.
Earl Spencer’s memoir, which is being exclusively serialised by Our News Outlet, was published as Harry and Meghan returned to Britain. Sources close to the Duke say he was “aware” of the book but insist he has not read it.
The Sussexes have faced several difficulties since arriving in the UK, including withdrawing their children from school after only two days because of security concerns connected to traffic.
In his first interview since returning, Harry smiled as he said: “It’s great. It’s wonderful to be back on British soil and really nice to see so many old faces and friends. It’s been eventful, but we’re getting stuck into the work.
“The kids are in school. We’re happy. And, as I said, it’s great to be back on British soil and, yeah, looking forward to Birmingham next year.”
In his incendiary memoir, Earl Spencer claims that Charles sounded “elated – like a lottery winner” after Diana’s death.
He also alleges that Charles said Princess Diana would soon be forgotten. Spencer further claims that Diana told him her royal husband was in love with his valet.
Royal aides have sharply suggested that grief affected Earl Spencer’s “reason, judgement and memory” in relation to the claims. Friends of Charles, meanwhile, said he would never have spoken in such a way and was overwhelmed by grief when Diana died.
Harry was asked loudly about his uncle’s book but continued walking as he arrived in Greenwich for the Invictus event last night
Harry, pictured speaking on stage, later described his return to the UK as “eventful” but said his family was happy and the children were in school
Harry shares a laugh with his friend James Corden
Dressed in black tie and wearing his military medals, the Duke posed for photographs and selfies outside the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, on the banks of the Thames, where the ceremony was held.
The awards ceremony celebrated the courage and dedication of people involved in the Invictus community.
Five awards were presented, including the Resilience, Champion, Community and Movement prizes. In total, 14 individuals and organisations were nominated.
Before entering the ceremony, Harry was seen posing with former England rugby union player James Haskell, who supported the launch of the Invictus Games.
Among the other high-profile guests were comedian James Corden, who opened the evening, chart-topping singer Jess Glynne, who delivered the headline performance, and actor Ross Kemp.
During his speech, Harry addressed veterans from around the world.
‘I want to say this as one soldier to another: your service matters. What you gave in uniform matters,’ he said.
Earl Spencer’s book has sent shockwaves through the Royal Family. His incendiary claim that – days after Diana’s death in a car crash – Prince Charles said: ‘Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough’, triggered a war of words yesterday.
The earl’s description of Charles’s alleged outburst prompted an extraordinary statement from the Palace, with royal aides questioning the veracity of his account and suggesting that grief can ‘cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory’.
The book’s first astonishing extract made headline around the world and is splitting society with rival camps backing either side.
In the first extract, published online yesterday and in today’s Daily Mail, the earl claims:
- The late Queen dramatically offered to restore Princess Diana’s royal title on the day of her funeral;
- Diana told her father she could not go through with the marriage to Prince Charles a month before the wedding – but he told her it was ‘impossible to pull out’;
- The day before the wedding Charles told Diana that while he was happy to marry her, he was not in love with her;
- Diana was so unhappy that she considered suicide and drove herself ‘more than once’ to Beachy Head cliffs in East Sussex;
- Charles sounded ‘giddily elated – like a lottery winner’ shortly after Diana’s death.
Announcing the book last month, Earl Spencer said that, ahead of the 30th anniversary of Diana’s death next year, he wanted to write down his own thoughts and memories ‘rather than having the discomfort of again reading the opinions of others’.
Diana lost her HRH title after her divorce in August 1996 and was instead styled Diana, Princess of Wales.
Describing the Queen’s offer, made just hours after he delivered his defiant eulogy at Diana’s funeral, Earl Spencer writes: ‘When we had gone some miles, Robert beckoned me to follow him into a quiet corner of the carriage.
‘I have just received a call from Her Majesty …and she would like to offer Diana her HRH title back.’ Mr Fellowes died in 2024.
The earl later wondered whether he was right to reject the offer, and that ‘maybe Diana would have seen some point in having HRH carved on her tombstone’.
But he said he ‘had no doubt that the consolation prize was hollow, however well-meaning the Queen’s gesture’, adding: ‘The title should never have been removed during her life, in which case it would not have been necessary to offer it to her in death.’
The memoir provides, for the first time, Earl Spencer’s insight into his sister’s deeply unhappy 15-year marriage and the then Prince of Wales’s love for her rival Camilla.
He recalls that on the day of Diana’s magnificent wedding in July 1981, he visited her at Clarence House where he found her ‘sitting quietly in front of a mirror’.
‘Only much later would I discover that, as she confided to a close friend, her husband-to-be had told her the previous day that she needed to know that he was very happy to marry her, but he was not actually in love with her,’ he writes.
The Earl, Diana and Charles at the Earl’s 21st birthday party in 1985 at the Mirabelle restaurant in London
The front cover of Charles Spencer’s book ‘Swan Song, Diana: My Sister’
Royal watchers were stunned by the Palace’s highly unusual response to Earl Spencer’s book.
In the statement, released on Wednesday night, it said: ‘While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.’
One royal aide later described the earl’s account to the BBC as a ‘demonstrably untrue claim’ about a deeply compassionate man.
Julian Payne, the King’s former communications secretary, yesterday said the King had told staff never to criticise Diana for years after her death.
Mr Payne, who worked for the then Prince Charles and Duchess of Cornwall for five years from 2016, including during the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death in 2017, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘He was absolutely emphatic that we were to respect her memory and not undermine it in any way.’
The Palace declined to comment on the earl’s further claims last night.
