Prince Harry Makes First Public Appearance Since Returning to Britain

Prince Harry has made his first public appearance since returning to Britain, arriving in London for the inaugural Invictus Spirit Awards.

The Duke of Sussex wore black tie and his military medals as he posed for photographs and took selfies outside Greenwich’s Old Royal Naval College, the venue for the ceremony.

Harry’s appearance came just hours after Our News Outlet published the first extract from Earl Spencer’s explosive new memoir, which claims King Charles told him: ‘We’ll forget her [Diana] soon enough.’

A source close to Harry said he was ‘aware’ of his uncle’s memoir but had not read it.

During the ceremony, the prince will recognise the courage and dedication of people across the Invictus community.

The awards honour individuals and organisations that ‘embody the resilience, service and unconquered spirit at the heart of the international Invictus Movement’.

Five awards will be presented, including the Resilience, Champion, Community and Movement prizes, with 14 individuals and organisations nominated overall.

The event took place as tensions reverberated through the Royal Family after the Palace responded to Earl Spencer’s book by suggesting that grief can ‘cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory’.

In his memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Earl Spencer recounts a devastating confrontation he says took place with Charles in the aftermath of Diana’s death.

In the first extract, published by DailyMail.com at 5pm today, he claims Charles sounded ‘giddily elated – like a lottery winner’ after Diana died.

The Earl described a telephone conversation with the then Prince of Wales after the 1997 car crash, saying the exchange sounded ‘strangely matter-of-fact’.

He wrote that Charles’s response led him to suspect the prince was thinking more about how Diana’s death might allow him to marry the woman he loved than about the loss itself.

One passage reads: ‘Unlike my other callers, who were stunned, barely able to articulate their condolences and offers of help, he sounded giddily elated – like a lottery winner, I remember thinking at the time.

‘He let me know he had informed William and Harry of their mother’s death, first thing that morning, in their bedrooms at Balmoral.

‘It all sounded strangely matter-of-fact, given the enormity of the disaster.

‘Looking back now, I suspect the prince’s first reaction must have been to think more of how this event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of one he did not.’

In other passages of the book, Earl Spencer spoke of how his sister drove ‘more than once’ to the cliffs at Beachy Head in East Sussex and was ‘contemplating ending it all’, adding that ‘her love for her sons stopped her from going further’.

The excerpt later goes on to claim that Diana told her brother ‘my husband is in love with his valet’ after telling him she was going to get divorced.

The book reads: ‘It is a sad fact that, in her later years, Diana drove herself more than once to Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in England, while contemplating ending it all.

‘Her love for her sons stopped her from going further.

‘One day Diana asked me at very short notice to join her for lunch at San Lorenzo, her favourite London restaurant.

‘She looked down at the table and said, ‘Carlos, I’m going to get divorced.’

‘I was silent for a moment. I had known things were bad, but not this bad.

‘Well, Duch,’ I carefully replied, ‘you of course have my full support… I know you’ll have thought this through.

‘But my main worry is the public. I fear they won’t forgive you. They’ve bought into a fairytale, and I reckon they may well – wrongly – blame you for destroying their fantasy.’

‘She looked up at me, nodded, and said quietly: ‘But, Carlos, my husband is in love with his valet.’

‘I gulped. ‘Well, I guess, in that case, you really don’t have a choice’.’

 The palace hit back at claims in the memoir last night with a short statement, saying ‘the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason.’

They are yet to respond to the allegations made in the extract published today.  

Meanwhile, this week it was revealed that Harry and Meghan moved their children to a new school after talks with their security team.

Prince Archie, seven, and five-year-old Princess Lilibet had only just started at their new school in England after the family relocated from the US three weeks ago.

But they will now join another one, after heavy traffic and the lengthy journey to the school reportedly put the Sussexes’ security team under strain. 

The decision comes amid reports that both the Sussexes will receive an official risk assessment following their return.

In January 2020, Harry and Meghan had announced they intended to step back as ‘senior’ members of the royal family, become financially independent, still support Queen Elizabeth II, but split their time between the UK and North America.

But the late Queen ruled at the Sandringham Summit, which was convened to resolve the Megxit crisis, that the couple could not be half in and half out – and the King recently said the agreement still stands.